


the bittersweet between my teeth

by GerryStAmour



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Alternate Universe - Benzaiten Steel Lives, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Bath Sex, Blood Loss, Burns, Cunnilingus, Dirty Talk, Edging, Enthusiastic Consent, First Kiss, Flirting, Genital Piercing, Groping, Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Internalised Disfiguremisia, Juno Steel and the Strap-On Of The Future, Long-Distance Relationship, Making Out, Minor Character Death, Morning Sex, Multiple Orgasms, Nipple Play, Nonbinary Character, Oral Sex, Other, Overstimulation, Phone Sex, Riding, Rough Oral Sex, Self Confidence Issues, Self-Esteem Issues, Serious Injuries, Sexual Tension, Shower Sex, Sibling Rivalry, Skippable Smut, Tongue Piercings, Torture, Trans Peter Nureyev, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex, Vers!Nureyev Rights
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:33:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 109,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27068692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GerryStAmour/pseuds/GerryStAmour
Summary: Juno was pretty sure someone in the universe was out to get him, and he was sure he probably deserved it. But the past week felt like a pretty low blow. Namely, the introduction of Rex Glass was a low blow.There were two things that made the entire situation inconvenient for Juno.First of all, “Glass” was without a doubt a criminal. He was too smooth, too vague, and his alias was too fake for him to be anything but.Second of all, he was very tall and very handsome, and Juno was both pathetic and predictable. That was a fact that brought his brother great joy and Rita a stomach ulcer.-In a universe where Benzaiten survived because I said so, Juno owns a cafe. Nureyev becomes his most regular customer. This is not a coffee shop au.[smut is completely skippable]Sequel: CANCELLED (read author's note)
Relationships: Benzaiten Steel & Juno Steel, Mick Mercury & Juno Steel, Peter Nureyev/Juno Steel, Rita & Juno Steel
Comments: 164
Kudos: 168





	1. trying to find the in-betweens

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Northisnotup](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Northisnotup/gifts).



> So listen, this started with North saying "what if [redacted]" and I said "yo, if you're not writing that, can I?" and North said "please do!" and then I proceeded to not actually write the fic we discussed and only vaguely adhered to the original premise. I am still gifting this monstrosity to North because it would not have happened without her. So thank you.
> 
> I would also like to thank my sorta beta Amdis for their amazing amount of patience! Their assistance with brainstorming, troubleshooting, cheerleading, and editing has been an absolute lifesaver, and I'm not sure this fic would be nearly this well-written without them!
> 
> More of my thanks go to the original, pre-server Jupeter groupchat who have been reading this fic since I started writing the outline, and have encouraged me so much for so long. This specifically goes out to Caz, Ansley, Hawke, and Elias!
> 
> Also, thank you to Marina who not only read the outline and gave me such lovely words of encouragement and has provided me with such joy over the process of this whole thing, but also has allowed me to shamelessly use their Nureyev as the Nureyev in my fics! Specifically, [this Nureyev](https://marina-does-things.tumblr.com/post/631776133469421568).
> 
> **For people looking to skip to the smut on rereads (enable "Entire Work" if you haven't already):**
> 
>   * Their first time
>   * Bath Sex
>   * The Big One
>   * Morning Sex
>   * Comms Sex
> 

> 
> So the sequel for this fic has been cancelled since I started writing my original fiction and [started my Patreon for _Felix Serrano and the Adventures of the Fortune's Favour_](https://fortunesfavour.carrd.co). I thank you for your understanding and I hope you have enjoyed what I've written so far!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A meeting, a match, and a misunderstanding...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A few quick notes:**
> 
>   * This is a Ben Lives AU and he will continue to live in it. This means the Juno in this fic is perhaps a bit more well-adjusted and is instead worried about... perhaps pettier things.
>   * Ramses is in it, and I couldn't be arsed to write him in a compelling way because I hate him, and he's only in this fic to maybe drive plot here and there. The old shit-bag can eat my shorts. The Ramjack plot will not be relevant to this fic. (It might in future fics if I actually make good on my promise to perhaps make a series out of this AU)
>   * **Nureyev is trans and gender euphoric** , and I use a mix of **masculine and feminine terminology** for his genitalia during the smut scenes. He also has not had top-surgery and does not wear a binder. Most of that information is only relevant in smut scenes, which do not start to happen until **chapter four**. If this will be an issue for you, I totally understand. The smut scenes will be made easily skippable, however!
>   * If the fic is not showing up nicely for you (especially on Chrome), select to "Hide Creator's Style".
> 

> 
> That's all I have, I hope you enjoy this fic I have been screaming about since July!

* * *

_**[NUREYEV]** _

Nureyev sat at a little table on the patio of a lovely brewpub near his hotel in Hyperion City. The meal he was working on was half-finished, as was the beer beside it, and he was idly leafing through a file of research for his current job.

This was his first visit to Mars, and he was already quite liking it. For several moments, he daydreamed of staying just a bit longer to see what Mars had to offer.

But it was just that, a daydream only.

Nureyev was jolted out of his thoughts by the loud stomping of heavy, leather boots. Looking up, he catches just a glimpse of the person as he passes, and Nureyev can’t look away.

The man was short and broad across the shoulders, and though Nureyev was seeing him from behind, he could tell he was solid through his middle. And Nureyev definitely took a moment to admire his view of this handsome stranger from where he sat, especially with the way his deep purple athletic tights hugged his ample thighs and hips.

The man was wearing a fitted grey, long-sleeved crop-top with a wide neckline that appeared to show off most of his shoulders. There were pale pink lacy straps of what could have been a cropped camisole visible on his bare shoulders as well. There was a glorious thrill of anticipation that bubbled in Nureyev’s gut, excited to see the whole look from the front as well.

Nureyev watched curiously as the stranger approached the owner of the restaurant and handed over a bag of food and a tray of coffees. The owner laughed a little too loud and a little too long at something the man said, and Nureyev couldn’t help the little smirk that came to his face. This gorgeous stranger was apparently a bit of a heartthrob if the owner’s sudden change in posture and attitude was anything to go by.

Over the din of the street around him, Nureyev wasn’t quite able to catch their conversation, but he did overhear something about some sort of competition. When the owner grabbed a bag of food with his own restaurant’s branding, some of the information clicked into place.

Then the man laughed as he turned around and Nureyev was not disappointed. 

The top he was wearing was tied in the front, just below his chest, leaving much of his skin exposed except for where the pale pink lace bralette he wore sat. The waist of those fantastic tights he wore didn’t quite cover his soft stomach, so a flashy, elaborate belly button piercing was fully visible.

Trailing his eyes up, Nureyev feels something pull in his chest at the tense smile the man wore. It seemed to feel uncomfortable on his face but was breathtaking nonetheless. Then he noticed the scars, which shocked Nureyev to see. 

They were extensive, deep, and there was an eyepatch covering his right eye. One gash across the bridge of his nose, and a long scar that went from his brow to his cheekbone, disappearing beneath the eyepatch he wore.

And those scars looked very good on the stranger’s strong features, giving him a perfectly rugged appearance, especially with his lovely dusting of stubble. His remaining eye was a deep, dark blue and was almost hawkish as it took in the surroundings.

Other details he obviously noted, such as the rose gold chevron ear cuff he wore as well as the septum piercing and the barest hint of lip stain, and he would have taken another look at the whole package again. But that hawkish blue eye landed on him and caught him staring.

For a moment that likely lasted for a fraction of a second, they stared at each other before the stranger gave him a full once-over. The interest in his gaze was obvious, and Nureyev had to resist the urge to preen under it.

But when his gaze returned to Nureyev’s, it was cold and hard, leaving him off balance.

“A picture would last longer, pal.”

Shock set his head spinning, the abrupt rudeness of the comment baffling and exciting him all at once. He had been appreciating the view of this beauty, but now he was intrigued by him in a way that made him want to figure him out.

Nureyev was jolted out of his thoughts when the owner shouted after the man.

“Offending my guests automatically means you lose, Steel!” the owner snapped, and the gorgeous stranger only flipped him off and disappeared around a corner. The owner quickly turned to Nureyev and said apologetically, “I am so sorry, sir. Please—”

“Oh, no harm, no foul. I was staring after all,” Nureyev says dismissively, waving his hand a bit. Considering the scars and the eyepatch, the man was likely used to stares that were far from flattering. “Could you possibly tell me where I might find him so I could apologize for my lack of manners?”

“Well, _uhm_ , I don’t know about—”

“What’s your name again?” Nureyev interrupted, clasping his hands together as he leaned on the table with his elbows. Dropping his chin onto his hands, he tilted his head to the right and smiled brilliantly up at the man.

“S-Sam—”

“Excellent, Sam, now I heard you shout ‘Steel’ after him, so I suppose I could just look him up from there, but that is simply so much work to expect from a guest,” Nureyev said with a dramatic sigh, sticking out his bottom lip in a perfect pout. Sam immediately glanced at his mouth and blushed. “And I’ve only just moved here—”

“Well, I mean, that’s Juno Steel, he runs the Old Town Cafe,” Sam says quickly, barely keeping his voice steady. “He took over from the old couple who used to run it after he—”

“Thank you, Sam,” Nureyev interrupted with a brilliant grin and a wink. “You’re a life-saver.”

Nureyev turned back to his files, completely ignoring Sam until he eventually walked away. Once he was alone, he let out a slow breath and planned his next move, if there even was one. There was a lot to the job that required research and that meant he would have a few days in Hyperion. Spending time with an interesting person like Juno Steel would make his stay tolerable.

Turning the page in his file, Nureyev froze.

There sat the picture of the very person he had been admiring just a few minutes ago. Detective Juno Steel, formerly of the Hyperion City Police Department who had taken fighting crime private before all but retiring from law enforcement five years ago.

The picture was obviously old, what with Juno’s unblemished skin and both dark blue eyes staring up at him. The smile he wore was cocky, self-assured, though still a bit reserved. There was an entire page of information attached to the photograph, but Nureyev couldn’t bring himself to look at it. He was far too caught up tracing the chiselled line of Juno’s jaw with his eyes, committing the unblemished face to memory.

Nureyev’s stomach dropped, only glancing at the rest of the page before flipping it over and choosing to ignore it completely. His client had declared Juno Steel irrelevant, and Nureyev decided he wouldn’t waste his time reading useless information.

* * *

The old man had been going on for what felt like hours, and Nureyev was ready to stand up and walk out right then. It even looked like his goon, a woman with a chewed-up scarred face and a mouthful of sharp teeth, was bored enough to fall asleep standing. She was right behind the old man, and Nureyev almost felt bad for her when he realized she had to hear this grandstanding every day.

He was supposedly telling Nureyev about the job and what it entailed, but he had been talking about nothing other than the theft of it five years ago. Well, theft was a bit of a strong word; the man was dealing in illegal weaponry and the HCPD had taken said weapons in a raid.

Instead of walking out or nodding off, however, Nureyev studied his client.

The man called himself Ramses O’Flaherty, but Nureyev knew that wasn’t his true name. The man had not existed thirty years ago, and even now the space he took up barely counted as existing. From what Nureyev could find, the man did nothing other than plan his mayoral campaign and slap his name on a few Northstar Entertainment movies. Nureyev was in no place to judge, however, since he too was a workaholic.

That didn’t make this particular workaholic any less annoying, though.

“... after the private investigator was injured, he was paid handsomely by Pereyra and has lived a well-earned quiet life since,” Ramses was saying when Nureyev began properly listening to him again. “He will not be of any use—”

“This is all a lovely story, Mr O’Flaherty, but shall we skip to the part where I come in?” Nureyev interrupted, letting an exaggerated yawn loose when the old man’s expression darkened. The thug behind O’Flaherty actually laughed and began paying more attention to the conversation herself.

“You will be retrieving my property, Mr Glass,” Ramses replied tightly.

“There we are, that wasn’t so hard was it?” Nureyev asked, his tone dripping with relieved condescension. Then he nodded at the woman behind him. “And your associate here, where does she come into all of this?”

“My associate and I were quite curious about Pereyra hiring a private eye rather than sending their HCPD thugs—”

“Mr O’Flaherty, please spare me the details,” Nureyev groaned, rolling his eyes and thoroughly enjoying the way Ramses’ nostrils flared.

“She has entered Pereyra’s ranks and has been narrowing down the location of my property,” he finally supplied after a few long moments of silently considering him.

“And the items?” Nureyev prompts further, and he waved his gloved hand impatiently when the old man did not respond. He only narrowed his eyes at him, and Nureyev couldn’t tell if it was thoughtful or angry. “Mr O’Flaherty, this will be the last time I ask politely; please give me all of the relevant details  only , and in a timely manner. I am a very busy man.”

“You’re Brahmese, are you not Mr Glass?” Ramses asked instead, and that actually threw Nureyev off. Most people on the Solar planets wouldn’t be able to identify a person from Brahma if they had been placed in a room full of Brahmese people.

But Nureyev only raised an eyebrow and looked at Ramses over the rim of his glasses. “I’m beginning to feel that you aren’t taking this seriously, O’Flaherty,” he said in a low voice.

“The items are in silver cases. One is about the size of your palm, the other four are slightly larger,” Ramses finally answers. “They will have the word ‘THEIA’ inscribed on the outside. Do not look inside the cases, Mr Glass. I will know if you tamper with the locks.”

“I’m sure you would,” Nureyev sighed dismissively. “Very well, I accept your terms.”

At this, the thug behind Ramses snorted. When Nureyev looked at her, she sneered, no longer amused by his attitude.

“Should I expect your assistance in this endeavour?” he asked her, and he took great delight in the glare she gave him.

“Retrieving the items’ the only reason he hired you, ain’t it Pretty Boy?” she asked in a growl.

“Then why are you here?” he asked flatly, completely unimpressed with her tough posturing.

“You should watch your tone with me, Pretty boy,” she snarled, stepping closer to the desk. “Someone might take great pleasure in messing that pretty face of yours up.”

“Enough!” Ramses snapped, waving the thug away. She hesitated for only a moment, just long enough to give the old man a furious glare, before sweeping out of the room.

“It would not be wise to anger her, Glass. You do not want to be on her bad side,” Ramses warned seriously. “She will not help you, and she will likely work against you to keep up appearances. How you treat her now—”

“Answer me this, Mr O’Flaherty; why did you hire my services? Your thug is in place, she knows where the items are, and she is trusted by the mark,” Nureyev asked, picking up the file Ramses had given him earlier in their meeting.

“She is too close and does not have the skill-set necessary to quietly reclaim my property,” Ramses replied. “Should she be caught, my entire campaign would be sunk.”

“So you need a thief who is disposable,” Nureyev says with a laugh, pushing his glasses back up his nose. “A thief who can do the job, but can’t be traced back to you, and won’t be missed.”

Hearing it said aloud, Ramses shifted in his seat slightly and turned his attention to shuffling some papers on his desk. “Some measures are unpleasant and perhaps even unfair, yes, but they are also necessary to achieve a Greater Good,” he finally said, meeting Nureyev’s gaze once again.

For a moment, Nureyev was sixteen all over again, standing in a red room listening to a computer count down to the deaths of thousands of innocent people. He had been told that was for the Greater Good as well and had been so close to buying into it… Nureyev shook those thoughts from his mind, buried that memory deep again, and snorted.

“If you were truly in this for some ‘Greater Good,’ O’Flaherty, you wouldn’t have someone like your charming friend outside under your employ,” Nureyev interrupted, snapping the file shut and standing up. “Nor would I be here.”

Ramses made a lot of noise for the next few moments, which was all it amounted to for Nureyev. There was certainly a lot of the word “good” in his speech, and for a moment Nureyev wondered just how “good” someone could be if they had to defend their actions so vehemently.

“Save your sermon for your own conscience, Mr O’Flaherty. The only thing I require to do this job is the number of zeroes you promised on my paycheque,” he interrupted with a pitying smile. “No hollow idealism to help me sleep at night necessary.”

At that, Nureyev strode out of Ramses’ office and was met by the thug leaning against the outer door. The look she gave him was mean as she picked her teeth with a large knife. The attempt at intimidation was so cartoonish, Nureyev almost laughed out loud but he managed to curb the reaction.

“You have an excellent day, Miss… ?” he prompted, waiting for her to step aside so he could leave.

“The old man told you my part in all of this, Glass?” she asked with a smirk.

Nureyev snorted, pulling out his comms to start looking into different options for lunch. “If you can call it a ‘part.’ Hardly seems you’re doing anything.”

“You’ve got an attitude, Pretty Boy, and I’m itching to give you an adjustment,” she growled. “You’d better hope it’s Mx Pereyra’s goons that catch you.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, were you saying something?” Nureyev asked, looking up from his comms with an appropriately perplexed expression. He heard every single word she said, but he just didn’t care. He wouldn’t be caught. “Care to repeat it?”

The thug laughed loudly, maniacally even, before stepping aside to allow Nureyev to leave. “Watch yourself, Pretty Boy,” she sneered at him as he passed her, which he met with an eye-roll and a wave of his hand.

* * *

Nureyev hung back from the little cafe on the corner, watching the restaurant carefully while he debated his next move. It had been a couple of days since he had seen Juno Steel at the restaurant and the man hadn’t left his thoughts since.

There was no reason for Nureyev to see Juno again. He wouldn’t have any additional information for the job he was doing, and Ramses had expressly told him _not_ to speak to Juno. However, he had only told Nureyev not to ask Juno about _the job_ , he reminded himself slyly. That did not mean he could not flirt and maybe even have a fun time while he was in town. The job _was_ taking longer than he had previously anticipated.

Nureyev smiled as Juno came out of the cafe carrying a large sandwich board. He fiddled with the positioning for a long time until finally he nodded and went back inside.

Before Nureyev could really begin to consider his next move, he was crossing the street and entering the cafe.

Inside, the place looked far nicer than the exterior may have suggested. The decor was warm and inviting, and the equipment behind the counter all looked brand new. As he took in the espresso machine, Nureyev realized someone was standing behind the counter and staring at him.

At first glance, he thought he was looking at Juno, instantly caught in the act of following him, and he conjured up a story. But then he realized that two piercing blue eyes looked at him from a face without a single scar. This man was also a bit leaner than Juno, but not by much.

 _‘Oh my, there are two of them?’_ Nureyev wondered dreamily as he approached the counter, smiling winningly at him. 

Juno’s apparent twin gave him a calculated once-over, which was similar to the look he received from Juno, but lacked any of the heat. The smile that the man gave him was exceedingly charming and that of someone who knew exactly how to pick someone apart. The look in his eyes said he was more than willing to do so.

Any interest Nureyev had in this twin fizzled out instantly.

“Welcome to Old Town Cafe, I’m Benten. How can we help you today?” he greeted, and his smile somehow turned sharper.

“What would you recommend?” Nureyev asked, keeping his expression pleasant. “I’m looking for breakfast and a coffee while I do my work for a couple hours.”

“What do you do?” Benten asked, and the question was so pointed that Nureyev considered that it had been a mistake entering a cafe run by a former private eye and his twin.

“Is it customary for baristas on Mars to demand the employment of their customers?” Nureyev asked, his tone a perfect imitation of a hapless tourist but he could tell Benten hadn’t bought it.

“No, but people normally just answer anyway,” he responded with a raised eyebrow. “And I’m not a barista.”

“Leave them alone and take their order, Benzaiten!” Juno shouted from the back, his voice stern but there was a warmth to it that made Nureyev smile a bit wider. Benten looked annoyed about being yelled at and rolled his eyes dramatically.

“I recommend this one sandwich my delightful brother has been experimenting with,” Benten finally responded, his smile returning full-force. “He loves to have his ideas critiqued while they’re still percolating.”

Nureyev laughed at what he assumed was an intentional pun, seeing as they were standing in a cafe. At Benten’s disgusted expression, it was apparent that the pun was far from intended and that Nureyev gained no social standing laughing at it.

Nureyev sat down after ordering the sandwich and a coffee, pulling a laptop out of his bag to begin his work. A moment later he heard shouting and looked up to see Benten standing in the doorway to the kitchen grinning.

“I told you that one wasn’t ready!” he heard Juno bark, and Nureyev sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose tiredly. Of course, Juno did not actually appreciate having his work critiqued before he was ready. Nureyev would never understand siblings, even if he were allowed a century to try.

When he looked back at the door, Benten was looking right at him, watching him with a wicked smile. Though he couldn’t hear him from where he was seated, he could read his lips well enough to tell that Benten was talking about him. Specifically, describing his appearance.

“Is that what that guy looked like?” Benten asked, plenty loud enough for Nureyev to hear him.

He could hear Juno respond, and Benten’s grin turned sharp.

“Yeah, I think that guy is here right now.”

Benten was almost knocked right over when Juno shoved through the doorway to squint in Nureyev’s direction. He was as beautiful as he was the other day, though now he wore an apron over his clothes. It was exhilarating seeing him again, and Nureyev couldn’t even begin to understand why.

Juno’s visible eye narrowed further just before he disappeared back into the kitchen. When he came back out, he was carrying a plate and had removed his apron as well.

Nureyev watched him approach, eyeing the way the black tights hugged his hips and how his white tank top showed off impressive biceps. The top was so thin that his pink bralette was fully visible, and fit so tight across his front that Nureyev was positive Juno’s nipples were pierced. That possibility had a little thrill of interest spiking through him, but he refused to get caught staring so openly.

Juno was greeting guests as he passed, smiling tightly at all of them but not stopping to speak to any of them. When he finally reached Nureyev’s table, he dropped the plate on the table so hard Nureyev was stunned that it didn’t crack in half, and then seated himself just as heavily.

“What do you want?” he snapped, crossing his arms.

“I beg your pardon?” Nureyev asked, putting on an act of overwhelmed confusion.

“What. Do you. Want?” Juno repeated slowly, as if Nureyev was stupid.

“Breakfast?” he asked, looking down at his meal with a helpless gesture. “A quiet place to do my work?”

“Ha ha, you’re a comedian, great,” Juno said with an exasperated roll of his visible eye. “You’re following me. Why?”

“I’m not,” Nureyev lied with a frown.

“So you’re telling me it’s just a coincidence that I saw you at Hyperion Brewing _staring at me_ while you looked at some big file?” he asked, his voice growing tighter. “It’s just a coincidence that you ended up at _my_ cafe with a computer, and you sat down where you can watch both the kitchen and the only exit?”

“How would I have known this is the only exit?” Nureyev asked, actually baffled by that accusation. It was at this comment that Nureyev realized he had done very little research, and that was truly alarming to him.

“Because this is a corner unit in Old Town,” Juno replied like it was an obvious answer. “Whatever, you _not_ knowing makes you even more suspicious.”

“Is it really such a shock that someone might be so taken by your beauty they might stare?” Nureyev asked.

“Wow, you’re hilarious. You should really take this schtick on tour,” Juno said, and though his expression tightened, Nureyev could see that he was biting the inside of his cheek.

“Fine then,” Nureyev said, veering away from complimenting him for the moment. “It can’t just be a happy coincidence that you and I have bumped into each other twice then?”

“In my line of work? Nope. It can’t,” Juno replied, leaning back in his chair.

“In your line of work… as the owner of a cafe?” Nureyev pressed, thoroughly enjoying the way Juno’s eye rolled again.

“I obviously meant my other line of work,” he snapped .

Nureyev feigned ignorance, putting on a show of thinking hard to remember something before he said, “ _Oh_ , yes! The owner of Hyperion Brewing told me about your career as a private eye!”

“There, see—”

“But I thought you were, I don’t know, retired from that sort of thing?” Nureyev continued, frowning.

“I still do private investigations, just part-time,” Juno said defensively and Benten snorted at that.

“He’s _extremely_ part-time,” he said, looking up from the magazine he had been looking at with a grin. “Like, he hasn’t done a case in _months_.”

“Don’t you have a senior’s tap-dancing class to teach or something?” Juno asked, exasperated.

“Oh, I wish,” Benten replied with a wistful sigh, returning to reading his magazine. “The owner of the shop under the studio definitely deserves it.”

While Juno bickered with his brother, Nureyev took the opportunity to admire him more thoroughly, cataloguing every little thing he hadn’t noticed before. Like the fact that there was a splash of freckles on his face, and his tongue was pierced twice, and his nipples were definitely pierced, too.

“My eyes are up here, pal.”

Nureyev blinked and looked back up at Juno’s face, his cheeks hot at being caught staring like that. Juno’s slightly knowing expression and the way he chewed the inside of his cheek made the embarrassment worth it.

“What’s your name?” Juno finally asked.

“Rex Glass,” Nureyev replied, tilting his head at Juno’s scoff.

“Sure it is,” he muttered, rolling his visible eye. “So what do you do for a living, Glass?”

“I’m a private investigator, of sorts.”

“Bullshit,” Juno said with an outright laugh. “Why would anyone hire a private eye who’s never even _been_ to Mars, let alone Hyperion City? Besides, you dress too well and smell too nice to be a private eye.”

“Well, I am investigating something. I’ve been employed privately to do so,” Nureyev clarified with a wide smile. Juno’s gaze immediately fell to look at his mouth, and Nureyev thoroughly enjoyed the way his breathing hitched. “Certification hardly matters.”

“Certification hardly matters? Excuse me?” Juno snapped, obviously offended before he shook it off. “No, that doesn’t matter. There are hundreds of private eyes in this city. Why would they hire you?”

“My dashing good looks and charming personality, I would assume,” Nureyev replied, giving Juno a deliberate once-over. “I can see those are prerequisites for private eyes here on Mars.”

Juno snorted, and looked at Nureyev appraisingly. “I’ll allow you the first bit, at least,” he says after a few moments.

Before Nureyev could respond, a very tiny woman burst through the front door like a sandstorm, yelling into her comms and juggling several comically full tote bags of some sort of junk food. Juno was immediately out of his seat, giving her a hard time about bringing snacks to work, and being late, and also being on her comms in front of customers. The woman returned all the sass she got, but she did hang up on whoever she was talking to, only to pick up a remote to turn on a comically large monitor on the wall.

After doing some channel searching, she landed on a Northstar movie marathon, which pulled a groan from both Juno and Benten.

There was further chaos as the woman—Rita, as Nureyev learned through the twins' collective complaining—pulled a stool over to the counter to sit on and chatted amiably with Benten. Juno eventually disappeared into the kitchen again, and soon everything settled back down to normal noise levels. Nureyev pretended to be deeply engrossed in his work, making sure to hide that he was watching the trio now.

Eventually, the woman’s gaze landed on him and she squeaked. “Isn’t that the guy Mista Steel was talkn’ about yesterday?” she asked in a loud whisper.

“Yeah, Rita,” Benten replied in a whisper just as loud. “But next time you should whisper even louder about it. I’m not sure he actually heard you.”

Nureyev chuckles as the woman—Rita—swatted Benten’s arm. “Oh, you—why are you still here? I’m in, go home, or to the studio, or wherever you crawl off to when you ain’t here.”

“I don’t have anything until this afternoon, and you know the rush is coming,” he replied with a shit-eating grin. “You need me.”

Sure enough, within the next fifteen minutes, a substantial morning rush came through, keeping Ben and Rita busy and Juno in the kitchen. Nureyev took great pleasure in people-watching, a pastime he rarely got to enjoy to its fullest.

As the breakfast rush began to come to an end, Nureyev decided it was time to leave to avoid raising any further suspicion from the twins and their diminutive friend.

Nureyev was in the middle of putting his laptop away when Juno came out of the kitchen. Their gazes meet across the restaurant, and Nureyev couldn’t tell if the disappointed expression on Juno’s face was actually there or just a figment of his own imagination.

“Heading out already?” Juno asked as he walked over to his table where he stopped and crossed his arms over his chest.

“I’ve been here for several hours, Juno,” Nureyev said, checking his watch. “Is it customary for people to stay at a cafe for a whole day?”

Juno shrugged and Nureyev could tell he was chewing the inside of his cheek again. “Some people do,” he replied. “Where else would you do your work?”

“I do have a hotel room, you know,” Nureyev said with a tone heavy and suggestive.

It had the desired effect, in that Juno took a shaky breath before clearing his throat and lifted a hand to play with the chevron ear cuff.

“Sure, of course you do,” he said after a few moments, clearing his throat. “That makes… complete sense.”

Nureyev stood and upon hearing Juno’s soft gasp, he looked down to meet his gaze. Objectively, Nureyev knew full well that he was tall, very tall actually, but being confronted by their height difference like that had his stomach swooping a bit. Juno even had to tip his head back just a bit.

The angle would have been perfect for Nureyev to gently cradle the back of Juno’s head, hold him softly as he leaned down to kiss him… but he quickly shakes that fantasy away. For the moment, at least.

“I might come again tomorrow, if that’s okay with you and your charming brother?” Nureyev asked, raising an eyebrow at Benten behind the counter, and smirked slightly at the saucy little wave he received. Benten’s smile was still sharp and Nureyev was fully aware that he was dangerous, regardless of his appearance.

When he turned back to Juno, something had closed behind his expression. He felt as cold and hard as his surname. Before Nureyev could ask if he was okay, Juno just shrugged dismissively and grabbed his empty plate.

“Whatever, it’s a public building,” Juno replied tersely. “You can do whatever you want.”

“Then I will see you tomorrow, Juno. The sandwich was divine, by the way,” Nureyev replied, smoothing his own frown back into a smile. “You’re onto something there.”

The ice in Juno’s expression melted immediately at the praise, which Nureyev tucked away for future reference.

“Yeah? I wasn’t sure about it,” he confessed, biting the inside of his cheek. “The sauce I used had a lot of components to it that could have tasted weird. I adapted a Brahmese recipe I found a few years back.”

“You’ve heard of Brahma?” Nureyev asked with raised eyebrows.

“During a case a few years back, I did some research and learned about Brahma, yeah,” he replied with a bit of a sheepish shrug. “I don’t know much about it, though.”

“Well, consider me incredibly impressed, Detective Steel,” Nureyev teased lightly, smiling broadly and feeling a thrill when Juno glanced at his mouth again. “I was going to say the flavour reminded me of something Mother used to make back home.”

Juno actually smiled at that, just a slight upturn at the corner of his mouth, and Nureyev was pleased to see his spirits raised. Bidding Juno farewell with a dramatic bow, Nureyev left.

Later that evening, Nureyev sat in his hotel room and watched the hacked surveillance feed of Pereyra’s sprawling mansion and thought about Juno. Particularly, he thought about Juno’s little smile at the end, and how easily it lit up his face regardless of how small it was.

Nureyev didn’t realize he had been smiling until he turned off the laptop and he saw his reflection in the dark screen. It was a dopey smile, nothing suave or roguish about it, and Nureyev couldn’t recall a time in the last two decades he had made such an expression.

The expression dropped, and he realized very suddenly he had miscalculated something with his interest in Juno Steel.

* * *

_**[JUNO]** _

Juno was pretty sure someone in the universe was out to get him, and he was sure he probably deserved it. But the past week felt like a pretty low blow. Namely, the introduction of Rex Glass was a low blow.

There were two things that made the entire situation inconvenient for Juno.

First of all, “Glass” was without a doubt a criminal. He was too smooth, too vague, and his alias was too fake for him to be anything but.

Second of all, he was very tall and very handsome, and Juno was both pathetic and predictable. That was a fact that brought his brother great joy and Rita a stomach ulcer. But Juno felt he couldn’t be blamed too much. Glass was _very_ tall, with long hair—black save for a single streak of silver at his left temple—that fell past his shoulders and very sharp teeth.

The teeth were probably the biggest problem for Juno. Not only were the incisors pointed like fangs, but the canines were just as sharp and even longer. To top it off, the canines on his bottom jaw were also noticeably more pointed. They reminded Juno of a fox, a mammal from Earth he had only seen photos of. 

The problem with them was that Juno couldn’t allow himself to think about them too much. Whenever he did, even just contemplating whether they were natural or a cosmetic change, he would start to think about what they might feel like. How would they feel pressing into soft flesh? Sinking perfectly into the meat of Juno’s thigh, teasing and— then he would shake himself out of those thoughts and bring them back to the important things.

Such as the fact that Rex Glass was indisputably a criminal. He had to be if only for the gloves he wore at all times alone.

They were always short leather gloves that perfectly hugged Glass’ impossibly long fingers and barely covered his palms. Sometimes they would be tipped with claw rings, which Glass would tap against his table distractedly while he worked. Juno put a lot of thought into why someone would wear gloves like that at all times, and then he would think about how they would feel on his back, on his thighs, on the backs of his knees, on his— and then he would pinch himself and get back to work, or making his and Benten’s dinner, or whatever else he was supposed to be doing.

So he reminded himself constantly that Glass was a criminal (probably), and that he wore those gloves to conceal his finger and palm prints (probably). For whatever reason, though, that all just made Juno’s heart race even faster.

Juno, however, would not act on any of those feelings because that would be a waste of his time. Mostly because Glass was a criminal, and also because Glass had met Benten after Juno had been an asshole to him at Hyperion Brewing. 

His romantic life had really taken a nosedive since his last big case five years prior. After his “accident” during that case, Juno had lost almost everything; his eye, his career, his sharpshooting, and then two years later, his fiance. With his scars, his missing eye, and an attitude he’d been told was piss-poor without the looks to make up for it, Juno really felt like he didn’t stand a chance next to his brother.

Obviously, Juno knew he was being unfair, uncharitable, and childishly bitter for someone pushing forty. Benten hadn’t asked for any of the treatment they received from others just as much as Juno, and it wasn’t his fault that he was so charming and Juno was just… _Juno_.

The two of them grew up in Old Town for the most part, and Sarah Steel quickly became known in the area for her mean streak. They were known as Sarah’s Little Monsters, and they also knew many of the remaining elderly residents still secretly referred to them by that nickname.

Despite their mother, Juno and Benten were well-liked by many of the other adults in Old Town and were often given places to sit and wait out Sarah’s moods. They were also given couches to sleep on when her rages lasted longer, and even one couple tried to adopt them when they were teens. The two of them had been staying with the couple for a whole month when they approached Sarah, but when no judge would go up against Sarah Steel, they were kept with her. 

The couple still took care of them, though, and it was their cafe Juno eventually came to inherit when they passed away.

While they were both well-liked, it became very clear from a very young age that Benten was liked _more._

The Steel brothers balanced each other in a way that was almost scary. Juno was impatient, introspective, and hypercritical while Ben was energetic, optimistic, and determined. And while they had been identical up until his accident five years prior, Juno still fell just a little bit short in comparison.

Juno could see it from the little things, like in fourth grade when Benten won Galaxy’s Best Smile for their class when they truly mirrored each other with the same smile. It was one of the first moments that Juno thought _‘what am I missing’_ but was too young to try and figure that out.

And then there were the big things. Like the long string of men and ex-boyfriends who only hooked up with him because they either wished he was Benten, or because they thought he _was_ Benten. For a while in high school, Juno rejected any of the boys who asked him out and only hooked up with girls, figuring they were “safe” since Benten hooked up with guys exclusively.

Sasha was the one who broke it to him that many of his ex-girlfriends referred to him as “Bisexual Benzaiten” and that other girls had picked it up as well. Dating turned a bit sour after that, of course, but at the time, Juno wrote it off as teenagers being assholes.

Then there were huge things, like how a partner for almost fifteen years could do the very same thing…

Juno understood it, of course, he really did. And when he was younger he found it hilarious. He was blunt, and rude, and not above being a huge brat about nothing. Benten was charming, with a bright smile and even brighter eyes. He was also a dancer which endeared him to more people than Juno could ever win-over, even if he tried.

But Benten’s charming demeanour hid the exact same mean streak Juno would wear on his sleeve. Where Juno was a sledgehammer through a wall, Benten was a knife between the ribs. Where Juno was rude, Benten would be mean. Where Juno would argue, Benten would be passive-aggressive.

Juno always took comfort in the fact that every one of the assholes from his past came to learn that about Benten, and that Benten was more than happy to make them regret crossing the Brothers Steel.

All of that just meant that Juno wasn’t at all shocked when he came out of the kitchen to put out some fresh sandwiches to see Glass leaning a hip against the counter and making small talk with Benten. He was wearing that stomach-twisting smirk of his, and Juno cursed just how easy he was to win over.

Juno knew in his gut that Glass was a dangerous man, knew that for all of his smiles and warm laughs, Glass could just as easily kill all three of them without blinking. Juno could tell by the sharp way he looked at everything before his eyes softened, and the knife Juno could see just barely concealed at his belt.

And Juno hated just how all of that information served to make him even more interested in Glass.

Glass looked up at him, and his smirk turned into a proper smile, showing off his sharp teeth. Juno glanced at them and almost choked at the sudden fantasy of those teeth biting into the meat of his shoulder. Juno bit down hard on the inside of his cheek to regain some of his composure.

 _‘Keep it together, Steel. Can’t be getting all hot an hour into opening,’_ he thought sternly as he busied himself with arranging the sandwiches in the display case. Not that any time during work was a good time for “getting all hot,” but especially not only an hour in.

“Ah, the lady of the hour!” Glass said, his voice full of genuine happiness and Juno couldn’t believe just how hot his face got under the attention.

“Ugh, don’t go making his head big, Rex,” Benten groused with a dramatic eye-roll as he went over to help Juno set the display case.

“Since when is he ‘Rex,’ Ben?” Juno asked with a snort, even as his better mood began to deflate.

“Uh, since birth apparently when his mother named him after a goddamn dinosaur?” Benten said with a raised eyebrow.

“Excuse me?” Glass interjected, feigning offence at the rude comment.

“And most people call others by their first names, Juno,” Benten continued, completely unfazed by Glass’ interruption. “Especially since he’s been patronizing our business for a week.”

“‘Our’ business?” Juno asked, attempting to change the subject and get away from discussing Glass’ names and how long he had been all but haunting his thoughts. Also, Juno knew Benten was right about all of it, but the familiarity between them still hurt.

Just once, Juno wanted to meet someone completely immune to Benten. Just once.

“Fine, he’s been patronizing _your_ business,” Benten conceded another one of his huge eye-rolls. “The point still stands, right Rex?”

“Indeed!” Glass said brightly, and Juno looked at him fully.

He was wearing a white, silky button-down shirt that was tucked into his slacks, which would have been fine except Glass had apparently failed to do up any of the buttons. Juno had to fight to keep his gaze from wandering and getting stuck too low.

“I’ll just stick with ‘Glass’ until you give me your _actual_ name,” Juno said when he met Glass’ eyes again, shaking off his unprofessional thoughts.

If Glass was afraid of Juno figuring him out, he didn’t show it at all. If anything, he seemed excited that Juno would be digging, that Juno might succeed, his smile broad and open. He appeared to be genuinely delighted by Juno’s stubborn will, and that made his head spin and piqued his insatiable curiosity.

When Glass opened his mouth to speak again, the door to the cafe was flung open as Mick Mercury strode in. The man demanded attention without even trying, between his loud voice, huge smile, and almost seven feet of height. Naturally, every head in the cafe turned to look at him, and several people happily greeted him by name.

Mick walked up to the counter and smiled broadly _down_ at Glass, and Juno can’t help the smirk that came to his face at the mildly alarmed expression Glass had. It was likely a rare thing for him to find himself _shorter_ than someone.

“Hey, how’re ya doing?” Mick asked Glass but did not wait for an answer before turning to Juno. “Hey, JayJay, how’s it goin’?”

Juno loved Mick with all of his heart but he couldn’t resist giving Mick the flattest stare he could muster.

“What do you want, Mick?” he asked just as flatly and flinched when Rita swatted his arm.

“Welcome back, Mista Mercury! It’s been a while, huh?” she greeted properly, smiling brightly at him.

“Rita, it’s been, like, a week,” Benten said with a frown, but both she and Mick ignored him.

“Yeah! I’ve been working on some of my business ventures, you know, that kinda stuff!” Mick gushed with a beaming smile and Juno pinched the bridge of his nose with an exhausted groan.

“Ah, an entrepreneur?” Glass prompted, obviously trying to make sense of Mick’s arrival.

“You could call him that, yeah,” Benten said with a snicker, laughing louder at Juno’s heavy sigh.

“Mick, please tell me you’re not here for me to bail you out with _another_ loan shark,” Juno said finally. “I’m begging on my knees here. Or, I would be but the floor’s kind of dirty and this skirt is new, so…”

“Relax, Jay, I’m just here for breakfast!” Mick replied with a sheepish laugh.

“Oh, so you’re planning on settling your tab, Mercury?” Juno asked, and this earned him another slap from Rita.

“Ignore Mista Grumpy Pants here, Mista Mercury. Your tab is _fine_ , no need to settle it,” she reassured Mick and Juno scoffed at her.

“Customers can set up a tab?” Glass asked, and Juno looked back up at him just to be almost knocked right out by the smile Glass wore for him.

“ _You_ can’t,” Benten answered for him, his tone flirtatious and Juno couldn’t help but deflate as that sharp gaze and the bright smile turned toward his brother.

With a roll of his eyes, Juno turned back to the kitchen. “I have to get back to work,” he said. “Someone has to pull their weight around here.”

Alone in the kitchen, Juno let out a breath and berated himself for caring so much. It shouldn’t have hurt at all, seeing as Glass wasn’t even really his to claim, and it was stupid of him to be so attracted to the man at all. But he couldn’t shake his attraction, nor stop the way Glass occupied his thoughts since the first moment he saw him.

* * *

Juno had been in a hurry, already desperately behind in preparing for the lunch rush, but he refused to forfeit this round of his little competition with a few local restaurants. He especially refused to forfeit to Hyperion Brewing specifically. As he passed through the patio, Juno noticed the thin man sitting at one of the tables and looking through a thick file of papers.

He allowed himself a moment to admire his sharp profile and long black hair and debated speaking to him before he left. The man was certainly Juno’s type, physically speaking at the very least.

Sam greeted him warmly inside, and they exchanged pleasantries for a couple of minutes.

When Juno turned around to leave, he found the thin man seated on the patio openly staring at him with an intense expression. Well, the sharpness in his gaze was intense, but his smile was lazy, his thin lips parted just enough to show off a set of sharp fangs. The man tipped his head forward a bit and his rose-tinted glasses slid down so his dark eyes looked at him over the rim of them.

Juno felt his stomach do several backflips and remembered his brief consideration to speak to him. But then he gave the man a proper look-over and noted several things; the gloves he wore, his belt, and the file.

The gloves were light, form-fitting, and covered his palms and fingers without cinching tight around the wrist. Such gloves were favoured by thieves and some private eyes since they concealed fingerprints while not obstructing one’s movements. Sleight of hand and picking analogue locks required precise mobility which would not be afforded with bulkier gloves.

The belt was pricey and had multiple places to clip various pouches, holsters, or sheathes onto it. Currently, the man only had a knife, just barely small enough to be legal, hanging from the belt, but Juno was willing to bet the man had at least one more knife hidden somewhere on his person.

Juno pointedly ignored the way the thought of hidden knives made his heart race and dried his mouth out.

And lastly, the file, which made Juno nervous within the context of his other two observations. There was a man, handsome with teeth as sharp as some Earth predator, carrying at least one knife and wearing the gloves of a thief, reading a thick file. To top it all off, he was staring at him, Juno Steel, a part-time private eye who had, at one point, been in hot demand.

Up until his case five years prior…

Was this person a new tail, he wondered. Juno had thought he had sufficiently proved he would keep quiet about things. But perhaps the man was just staring at his scars and eyepatch? The first thought turned his stomach sour with anxiety, and the latter made him angry.

Glaring at the man, Juno bit out a quick, “a picture would last longer, pal.”

Something fluttered in Juno’s chest when the man’s expression dropped for a moment before becoming something that distinctly resembled delight. Juno left in a hurry, completely ignoring Sam’s shouting after him except to flip him off.

Bursting through the door of his cafe, Juno stomped into the kitchen and threw his apron on to get back to making sandwiches and baking. Benten appeared at the door and stared at Juno with a suspicious expression.

“What’s wrong, Princess?” Benten asked with a voice thick with mock-concern, though Juno knew his brother was truly worried about him.

“There was a guy staring at me at Hyperion Brewing,” Juno fumed, and even to his own ears that sounded like a dumb reason to be so upset.

“... and the problem with that is?” Benten pushed and Juno sighed.

Juno took his time describing the man, attempting to sound as casual as he could and failing utterly. It was completely obvious Juno had thought the man to be attractive. That he still did at that point, which was the most frustrating part for Juno.

Once he was done, Juno hoped Benten would leave it alone. Benten, of course, does not.

“Don’t you think that’s a bit of an overreaction?” Benten asked and Juno rolled his eyes. “Hear me out, Juno. Couldn’t he be another private eye?”

“If he is, he’s not local, which makes him useless,” Juno said with a snort. “So no, he isn’t a private eye.”

“Okay, could he have been, you know, attracted to you?” Benten suggested gingerly, and Juno gave him a withering look.

Juno wisely kept any negative words about his appearance to himself, knowing it would only cause a rip-roaring fight between them.

“What about his file?” he asked instead.

“I don’t know, Juno! But not every weird thing people do is part of some nefarious hidden agenda!” Benten said, clearly frustrated with Juno. “He could have just been some weird, handsome stranger who thought you were hot because he didn’t suffer a conversation with you yet, and then you spoiled any chance you had with him.”

“What ‘chance’ would that’ve been, Ben?” Juno asked with a snort.

“Careful what you say here, Juno. You call yourself ugly, you call me ugly. Same face,” Benten said sternly as he crossed his arms.

“We haven’t had the same face in five years, Ben,” Juno bit out, and he sounded far more bitter than he intended and it obviously struck a chord in Benten.

Juno was mercifully spared the rest of that argument by Rita arriving loudly, and already shouting at Benten about one of her streams.

* * *

Juno could clearly remember how much he ended up talking about Glass that day, though. He had been completely distracted by the man before he was ever forced to learn his name, before he had to deal with him every morning for a week. Since before Glass had to go and meet Benten and chat him up.

He just wasn’t sure how much more of Benten and Glass’ flirting he could handle.

Juno moved to watch the dining room through the window in the kitchen door, positioning himself so he wasn’t easily visible.

Glass was ordering a sandwich for lunch, smiling warmly at Rita as she babbled to him animatedly. It made something flutter in Juno’s heart to see him so seemingly genuine with her.

Then Glass’ comms beeped and he answered. Juno watched closely as Glass seemed to transform, his expression serious and his tone clipped as he responded with monosyllabic answers. It was interesting to see Glass so serious, and Juno briefly doubted his assessment that Glass was a thief.

Perhaps Glass was just a weird businessman dabbling in private investigation after all. Somehow though, that was worse than being a thief in Juno’s mind.

When Glass hung up his comms, Rita handed him his sandwich, still wrapped in foil.

“Let me get you a plate, Mista Glass!” she said loudly, and Glass shook his head with an apologetic smile.

“No need, Ms Rita, thank you. Unfortunately, duty calls and I will have to be heading out immediately,” he said with a winning smile.

“Oh, how mysterious. ‘Duty’ calls?” Benten said coyly, his flirtatious tone excessive and over-the-top and Juno couldn’t help the stab of bitterness he felt.

“Not a problem, Mista Glass. Can I get you a bag for that then?” Rita asked, completely ignoring Benten as she smiled at Glass.

“No thank you, Rita,” Glass replied with a pleasant smile. “I’ll see you in the morning. Give my compliments to the chef!”

At that, Glass turned away from them and put the entire sandwich into his back pocket. He swept out of the cafe in such a hurry, he couldn’t have seen the expressions of complete and utter shock on Rita and Benten’s faces.

Juno, however, choked on his attempts to stifle his laughter. By all rights, Juno knew he should be equally unsettled by a man who was not only able to put a whole sandwich in his pocket, but also _would_.

But Juno could only feel a bubbly sort of fondness in his chest as he smiled after Glass, and completely missed when Benten looked over at the kitchen door. All fanciful feelings Juno had withered the moment he was caught staring moon-eyed after Glass.

The only thing that was worse than having a crush was Benten _knowing_ he had a crush. And it only made it worse that this crush did ridiculous things like intergalactic crime and store whole sandwiches in their back pockets.

“Juno, you absolutely cannot sleep with that man,” Benten shouted at him when he finally regained his voice, and every patron turned to look at the kitchen door as well.

“The hell’s that supposed to mean?” Juno snapped, his face heating up with embarrassment, but when Benten scoffed at that, Juno felt a stab of annoyance.

“That means he put a sandwich—a whole sandwich—in his back pocket. What kind of person _does_ that?” Benten asked, absolutely offended he had to explain such a thing. He walked over to the kitchen door and added, “Like, he apparently has no ass, too, so—”

“I’m sure there are better reasons for you to not want me to sleep with him, Ben,” Juno interrupted flatly, aiming for casual indifference. He tried to make it about Glass likely being a criminal, but it sounded bitter with jealousy.

“I don’t know, Juno. The sandwich thing was pretty fucked up,” Benten said thoughtfully before blowing a raspberry and shrugging. Then he perked right up. “Oh, did Rita tell you?”

“Maybe? Probably? Rita tells me a lot of things,” Juno replied, turning to go back to his prep table and rolled his eyes when Benten followed him. “Most of what she says isn’t really useful to remember, so…”

“Hey, Rita! Come in here and tell Juno what you found on Rex!” Benten called out, and Juno was instantly interested. He was even able to ignore the casual familiarity Benten had with Glass.

Juno pinned Rita with a stare the moment she pushed through the door, and waited for Benten to go back to the dining room.

Rita took a deep breath and said, “I found nothn’, Boss.”

There was a long pause where they stared at each other, blinking.

“You found… nothing,” Juno finally said, frowning. “How is this even remotely exciting, Rita?”

Rita rolled her eyes and heaved a huge sigh. “Jeez, Boss, do I hafta spell it out for ya?” she asked, putting her hands on her hips.

“Uh… yeah,” Juno replied after a moment and Rita groaned.

“Okay, I _mean_ there is absolutely zero, zip, zilch, _nada_ information about our _beeee-u-tiful_ Mista Glass, because…” she began, and paused for dramatic effect. When Juno didn’t react, she growled, “Boss, you’re supposed t’do a drum roll.”

“What, why?” Juno asked, making a face.

“Because in all the streams there’s always a drum roll during the dramatic _pause_ Boss!” she whined and Juno rolled his eyes again.

“That’s dumb, Rita,” Juno snapped and Rita glared at him.

“Then I’m not telln’ you nothn’, Boss!” she replied with a loud _hmph_.

“Fine! Fine, I’ll do a stupid drum roll,” Juno grumbled and began drumming his fingers on his prep table.

“ _Yay!_ Mista Rex Glass _doesn’t exist_. So either he works for Dark Matters--”

“He’s too friendly, too open,” Juno interrupted thoughtfully, and Rita nodded excitedly. “He’d be a terrible agent.”

“My thoughts _exactly_ , Mista Steel!” She squealed. “So that means Rex Glass is an alias! I mean, we figured it was, like what kinda mother names her baby ‘Rex’, right?” But now we have proof!”

Juno nodded, humming thoughtfully as he reached up to play with one of his earcuffs. “Are you able to dig up more on him?” he asked after a few moments.

“Eh, I dunno, Boss,” she replied, looking significantly less excited and annoyed now. “I’ve tried findn’ any facial recognition matches, but the only records of his face in, like, the whole galaxy have been from the past week.”

“Okay—”

“ _Which_ keeps disappearing by the end of the day,” she continued, unfazed by Juno’s attempt to speak. “He’s cleanin’ up after himself as he goes, Boss. I need more, y’know, context to do a better search. At least quickly that is.”

“What kind of context would you need?”

“Some of his other work—”

“So, crimes.”

“ _Assumin’_ he’s a criminal, yes, his other crimes, for starters. His age is anotha one, where he was born. Some identifyn’ marks like a birthmark, tattoos, scars, y’know, that kinda stuff,” Rita listed off rapidly and Juno considered that.

It was obvious after Rita mentioned it, and Juno wanted to smack himself for not catching on quicker. So then he began to consider what he had seen of Glass, and tried to recall if he had seen any unique marks on him. Honestly, however, Juno had avoided staring too long at Glass’ skin when it was visible because he always, without fail, got distracted with fantasies of touching, kissing, and biting it.

Like he was at that very moment. Shaking himself a bit, Juno realized Rita was talking again.

“... he’s had to’ve been caught at least once, and hopefully forgot to scrub his physical description,” she mused and shrugged a bit.

“What about his teeth?” Juno asked, and then he was feeling hot thinking about biting all over again. “Those look weird enough, right?”

“Nope,” Rita said, disappointed.

“Nope? What do you mean ‘nope’? He has fangs, Rita,” Juno snapped and she nodded.

“More than half the people on a little planet in the Outer Rim named Brahma have teeth like that,” Rita replied, sounding even more annoyed but at least it was directed at the mystery and not Juno. But the mention of Brahma jogged something in Juno’s memory, and his stomach felt tight. “I don’t know if you remember it, but after your last big case, you had me researching that stuff you found and—”

“Yeah, I remember,” Juno interrupted, not wanting to think about that case.

“Yeah, ‘course you remember, _anyway_ , after the war, people really spread out and stuff, and there’s just a lot of people elsewhere being born with those kindsa teeth,” Rita continued, huffing. “It’s just not a unique enough feature, Mista Steel, even if it’s weird to see ‘em on Mars.”

“Wait, I’m pretty sure he’s from Brahma,” Juno said suddenly. “That first sandwich we served him, I was experimenting with a Brahmese recipe I found for the condiments! He said it reminded him of something his mom made.”

“Do you honestly think _I_ didn’t already think of the Brahma angle, Boss?” Rita snapped, sounding insulted. “If he’s Brahmese, then it’s extra impossible to dig up his real name based on what we know now.”

“Why?” Juno asked, annoyed by all of the roadblocks coming up.

“Boss, do you ever, and I mean _ever_ pay attention to anything ever?” she asked, and completely ignored Juno’s offended “hey!” “Mista Glass matches the description of pretty much every other person on Brahma. Tall, pale, beanpole, dark hair, narrow eyes, sharp teeth. That vague’a description won’t get us anywhere.”

“So… we need to find some identifiable mark, which is covered up probably,” Juno said thoughtfully.

And then he was thinking about Glass’ body again. He thought about removing Glass’ clothing and imagined his hands passing over the perfect planes of his pale skin. Juno could imagine his close inspection, looking and feeling for any sort of imperfection. Those gloved hands of Glass’ would hold onto him, the claws of his rings digging into his biceps, or his sides, or his hips-- Juno’s face felt painfully hot as he shook himself out of his fantasies once again.

“Nah, Boss,” Rita replied, and that fully snapped Juno out of his heated thoughts. When he looked at her, she wore a knowing expression.

“What?” he asked, confused by the change in direction.

“I think we should just drop it, Boss—”

“Rita— !”

“No, hear me out, Mista Steel. I’m talkn’ so shush. If he’s really up t’somethin’, maybe we should stay outta that stuff,” she continued, shrugging. “I know this has you real excited, and I know how much you miss investigatin’ but maybe you should work on a real, proper case.”

“So, you want me to ignore this guy?” Juno asked incredulously.

“No! I just think… it doesn’t really matter why he wants us to call ‘im Mista Glass, does it?” Rita said, shrugging a bit again. “He’s real nice, and he likes you, and he’ll be gone soon probably anyway.”

Juno scoffed at the idea of Glass liking him and rolled his eyes. “So, what? I just let a criminal do what he wants because, what? He’s got a pretty face and says a couple one-liners?” he asked, his voice far too bitter for him to pass it off as anything but.

“I just think this ain’t worth investigatin’, Mista Steel,” she replied after a moment with a said sigh. “I’ll look at findn’ us a case tonight, Mista Steel.”

Rita returned to the dining room after that before Juno could respond, leaving him alone to his thoughts.

They were a swirling mess of confusion. Should he just drop it and enjoy the criminal’s presence? That seemed ridiculous, completely out of the question, and beyond stupid. But it was also unbelievably tempting. The allure of ignoring his curiosity and simply enjoying the daily visits from the tall man of mystery, to take the flirtations that fall from his perfect mouth and think about them into the wee hours of the night without guilt…

Those thoughts plague Juno into the following day, right up until his afternoon trip to a shooting range with Mick.

Juno went to the shooting range with Mick twice-weekly for the past three years, though Mick really only joined him to keep him company. The trips were a required part of his rehabilitation after the two years of surgeries and physical therapy. Rita and Benten had been very vocal against his deterioration, and refused to watch him fall completely to self-loathing after the damage had been dealt to his reputation, and then Diamond…

Regardless, in the years since his “work accident”, he had regained quite a bit of his old speed and almost the same rate of accuracy. He wouldn’t call himself a sharpshooter by any means, but he wasn’t too shabby either.

“So, that guy that’s been hanging around… what’s up with him?” Mick asked while Juno was reloading the cartridges in his blaster.

“Glass?” Juno asked with a sharp look and a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah, Glass. And don’t look at me like that, I pay at least a little attention to my surroundings, Jay,” Mick said with a chuckle, and Juno felt embarrassed for a brief moment at having his implied scepticism called out like that. “So what’s his deal?”

“I have no idea,” Juno replied with a gusty sigh. “He’s just started hanging around, says he just likes the company.”

At that, Mick hummed thoughtfully. “Gotta say, Jay,” he started slowly. “He really seems like—”

“Don’t say it, Mick,” Juno warned, knowing exactly where he was going with his train of thought.

“—your type,” he finished anyway, raising an eyebrow at Juno’s glare.

“The hell is ‘my type’? This guy comes in, and everyone’s going on about my ‘type.’ Seriously, what is it?” Juno asked, legitimately frustrated at that point.

“Tall, good looking, great smile. Has that kind of… uh, mystery? Danger?” Mick started, and then he began floundering for further descriptions. “You know, like—”

At that, Juno made a sharp sound, and Mick flinched.

“Right, yeah, nevermind that last bit,” Mick said quickly. “The other stuff, though? Yeah.”

Juno hated how transparent he was, and he hated that Mick was even correct about the cut-off thought. “Yeah, well it’s whatever. He’s probably leaving town soon anyway,” Juno grumbled and went to take aim.

“You don’t have to fall in love, Jayjay,” Mick said, and shrugged at the flat stare Juno turned on him. “You could… just keep it casual?”

“Are you confusing me with my brother, Mick?” Juno asked, scoffing and Mick rolled his eyes at him.

“No, but maybe Ben’s onto something there!” he said, but it came out awkwardly. “You don’t have to marry every person you’re interested in, Jay.”

“Mercury, I swear,” Juno threatened, glaring at him. At Mick’s guilty look, he softened. “Look, Mick, it’s not… I can’t do _that_. The casual thing.”

“I mean, you always used to, though,” Mick replied, obviously confused and Juno let out a frustrated growl.

Mick was right; Juno used to do casual a lot just… not by choice usually. 

He considered it with Glass, to hit-it-and-quit-it like Benten could, and Juno knew it would likely be a great time, too.

But that never worked well for Juno. It would always feel hollow when he tried, his guts twisted in knots while he considered leaving that warm bed when it was done. The mere thought of stripping himself bare and getting that intimate with someone, just to leave come morning made his skin itch. And on top of that, there were people out there who knew him like _that_ , but didn’t actually _know him_... 

In the end, he was always too soft for it, even if the thought of commitment would give him hives. Commitment hadn’t always been terrifying to Juno, even if so many of his previous partners fell through. It wasn’t until a couple of years ago that he had given up entirely on happy endings, or that he could ever be worthy of one.

“I mean, I can do it but I always end up hating it,” Juno elaborated, biting the inside of his cheek. “It only— _ugh_ , I don’t know, it only doesn’t _feel bad_ if it’s someone I’m like, you know… into them?”

“Oh, wow, okay JayJay,” Mick said, laughing sheepishly.

“Yeah, so can we drop it already?” Juno pouted and startled when Mick clapped his shoulder and then yanked him in for a hug.

“You got it, bud. Dropping it,” Mick said before pulling away to chat Juno’s ear off about something else.

Juno was still thinking about Glass while he closed up the cafe, mopping the same patch of floor for the past five minutes. The bell on the door jingled and Juno took his time to turn around, letting out a big sigh.

“We’re closed—” he started as he turned and sucked in a harsh breath.

It was Glass, standing there in an all-black suit, his long hair done in a loose braid that rested on his shoulder. He was wearing his leather gloves and claw rings, as he always was, and Juno’s mouth went dry.

Looking up — so far up it seemed because, of course, Glass was wearing heels — Juno was overwhelmed all over again by Glass’ warm smile and bright eyes shining behind his glasses. If the way his heart raced was anything to go by, Juno knew he was absolutely screwed.

It took a moment for Juno to realize he was staring, and by the time he did, Glass’ smile had shifted into a knowing smirk.

“Glass? What brings you here this late?” Juno asked breathlessly, and he cleared his throat. “We’re almost closed…”

“Oh, I’m aware, Juno. I’m merely stopping by to ask… a favour, I suppose,” Glass replied, his voice low and seductive, and in the dim cafe it did _a lot_ for Juno. 

Glass was standing close to Juno, and he was overwhelmed by the scent of his cologne. It was so distracting, the way it filled his head and his chest, and Juno wanted to lean even further into it. He felt as though he was wrapped up tightly in that smell, and he ached for Glass’ long arms to be around him as well.

“Oh?” Juno prompted, clearing his throat and fiddling with his ear cuff nervously. “What kind of favour?”

Glass grinned and stepped even closer. Juno knew he wasn’t looming, but between how tall he was, how high his heels were, and that _smell_ … it felt like he had been cornered by him. And for a moment, Juno was certain Glass was going to kiss him. Juno could clearly imagine it, the way Glass’ hands would cradle the back of his head and neck, the way he would tip his head back and their lips would meet. The way those teeth would bite into his bottom lip…

For just a second, the fantasy was so vivid, Juno thought it had actually happened.

Then Glass lifted his hand from his side, and Juno jumped a bit, eyeing the fancy piece of cardstock held between two of his fingers. Juno accepted the invitation and looked it over, raising his eyebrows.

“I’ve managed to find myself on the guestlist of a fairly extravagant event in a couple of days,” Glass elaborated, and when Juno looked him over again pointedly, he added, “I went to one tonight, but apparently going to these things alone is highly unusual on Mars.”

Juno’s face grew hot and his cheek felt raw with how much he had been chewing on it since Glass arrived.

“Yeah?” Juno asked, his heart racing, and his hands shaking.

“I was hoping to have some company for this next one. Someone charming,” Glass said, his voice dipping lower and sexier as he stepped even closer to Juno. “Someone beautiful.”

Juno’s heart dropped, sinking like ice in his stomach and cracking.

His face was hot for an entirely different reason. Like an idiot, he had actually allowed himself a moment to think that Glass had meant him. That this time was going to be different, that for the first time in thirty years, someone wanted _him_ . That _Glass_ wanted _him_.

Embarrassment turned to white-hot anger in his gut at the realization that Glass went and pulled the same goddamn thing. Why should he be upset, or that invested in Glass’ attention? Glass was a criminal, probably, and that party was just a cover.

Why did Juno care?

“Look at you, Juno. Seriously look at you. Your piss-poor attitude was only cute when you looked like— ...shit. Juno, I’m sorry—”

“No, finish that thought. I want to hear you say it.”

“Juno—”

“Just fucking say it, Diamond!”

The memory hit Juno hard, and he wanted to throw something. Some of his anger must have shown on his face, and Glass’ expression became confused.

Juno took a deep breath and nodded. “I’ll… charming and beautiful company you’ll have then,” Juno said slowly, pressing his tongue against his raw and bloody cheek. He worked to keep his anger in check and waved the invitation a bit.

Glass still had a concerned expression on his face, but it had melted a bit into something happier. Juno could feel himself shaking.

“If that’s all, can you go now?” Juno asked, barely holding back from shouting at him. “I need to finish closing up before the HCPD starts doing their rounds.”

“Of course, I will leave you to it,” Glass said with a curt nod. “See you tomorrow morning, Juno.”

“Yeah, Glass, see you tomorrow,” Juno said with a sigh, and watched Glass leave just as quickly as he arrived.

“Wow, he cleans up nice, doesn’t he?” Benten asked from the door to the kitchen, and Juno barely refrained from flinching.

“He sure does,” Juno said through gritted teeth, cringing when Benten walks over to peek at the invitation.

“What did Rex want?”

Juno did flinch at that, at the casual familiarity between Benten and Glass. His face felt molten with his humiliation.

“You didn’t hear any of that?” Juno asked, hoping he wouldn’t have to actually repeat what happened.

“Nope. I saw him out here and kept doing the dishes,” Benten said with a self-satisfied grin. “Kept myself busy so you two could—”

“He asked me to give you this,” Juno bit out, thrusting the invitation into his face.

“What?” Benten questioned, and after accepting the invitation and reading it over, he let out a confused sound. “Are you sure he wanted me to have it?”

Juno rolled his eyes and returned to cleaning up. “Yeah, Ben, I’m pretty sure he wanted you to have it,” he replied.

“Juno—”

“Just take it, Benten. You like fancy parties more than I do, anyway,” Juno deflected without even turning around.

“Did he _say_ —”

Juno was done; he didn’t want to deal with any sort of false hope Benten might have convinced him into. He was tired, he was mad, and he just wanted to go home.

“Yeah, he said specifically you, and he wanted some charming and beautiful company, so yeah,” Juno snapped and then sighed as some of that anger bled away. “Just go to the party, Ben. Now are you going to help me close, or not?”

“Is it really so hard to believe that someone might want _you,_ Juno?” Benten asked, and his tone was so earnest, Juno wished he could.

However, Juno knew better.

“They _don’t_ , Ben. They never did. He especially doesn’t,” Juno said with a glare at Benten, and Benten scoffed at him.

“Are you serious, Juno?” Benten snapped and he waved the invitation. “You’re really going to stand there and tell me you don’t think Rex is even a little bit into you?”

Juno couldn’t understand why Benten was arguing so much. Juno wished he didn’t, but he viewed it as a competition and Benten had won. And the worst thing was that Benten didn’t even want to win. Hell, he wasn’t even running the same race as everyone else.

“He can’t, Benten! I mean look at me; I’m some washed-up has-been private eye, a passable cook who needs my secretary to run the cash register, and my brother to deal with customers, I’m--” Juno cut himself off before he said anything disparaging about his appearance, and instead just gestures at his scarred face.

“Oh my god, Juno! You can’t—”

“And the shitty cherry on top of this shitty cake?” Juno interrupted, his tone almost an actual growl. “I’m generally unpleasant to be around. I have a ‘piss-poor’ attitude.”

Juno stared at Benten, challenging him to say that none of it was true. But Benten just crossed his arms and rolled his eyes.

“So yeah, that is hard to believe, especially with Glass,” Juno finished, releasing an explosive sigh. “Why are we even _talking_ about this anyway?”

“Fine, I’ll go to this thing with Rex,” Benten said, his expression tight and his teeth grinding.

“Thank—”

“Whatever helps you wallow at night, Juno,” Benten finished before storming back to the kitchen, and Juno deflated a bit.

Juno stood alone in the middle of his cafe, the one he was given two years ago after everything. After the accident, after Diamond. It was one of the few things he felt like he was good at, after failing as a private eye, a fiancee, and, to a lesser degree, a brother. 

The cafe was something he poured himself into, deciding he was done with even _trying_ for anything more than a quiet existence alone, regardless of any other dreams he may have had.

What right did Glass have coming along and messing everything up? Dredging up old hurts that he and Benten had managed to finally get over and bury?

Juno took a deep breath and went back to cleaning. He was done with all of that. He was going to do his job, Benten was going to go to the gala with Glass and send him on his way, and Juno would stop caring.

Besides, he was positive that Glass was a criminal and would either leave very soon or get arrested.

And in the end, he refused to be so hurt over someone he had met only a week ago, who stood for everything Juno built his career around stopping.


	2. can't help myself but count all the flaws

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bad date, and a bad day both...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you can see, this came way earlier than Saturday and that's because _I cannot stand_ having content ready and not posting it, and I've gotten enough of a headstart that I feel confident in my ability to update twice weekly!
> 
> Just a reminder that Nureyev is a **gender euphoric trans man** who has **not had top-surgery** and does **not wear a binder**. I use a mix of **masculine and feminine teminology** when describing his body.

* * *

_**[NUREYEV]** _

Nureyev was completely aware that something was wrong the next morning when he arrived at the Old Town Cafe. Juno had been behaving strangely during their brief conversation the night before, but Nureyev didn’t want to press too much.

The conversation with Benten that morning was strained, which perhaps didn’t say much. They barely got along well even on a good day, and most of their conversations felt like they were both sharpening their own blades.

But there was something making things even more tense between them.

Benten was still smiling, still joking around, and no one else probably suspected a thing. But Benten was _angry_. 

“Oh, and by the way,” Benten began when Nureyev turned to walk over to his table. “Juno will meet you at the gala thing tomorrow, okay?”

Nureyev frowned and said, “I was hoping to pick him up—”

“He’ll meet you there,” Benten snapped, his tone sharp and brooking no argument.

Nureyev felt his hackles raise at that, ready to argue with him, to demand to speak to Juno about it. Instead, he backed down; it was a silly thing to argue about, and Benten actually instilled some level of fear in him.

The next thing he noticed was the conspicuous lack of Juno out in the dining room at all. Even when the display case had to be restocked, Benten or Rita would go into the back and return with big trays full of pastries and wrapped sandwiches.

The final piece of evidence that something was wrong was that Rita’s streams were turned down. They were usually turned up so high, Nureyev couldn’t hear his own thoughts.

Nureyev didn’t stay too long, uncomfortable with the change in everyone’s behaviour. He used the arrival of Mick Mercury as a distraction to leave unnoticed.

He passed his day doing some actual research, calling in some favours, making cold calls, and overall doing his job properly. Juno Steel had been a significant distraction, and he knew he was taking too long to complete the job. O’Flaherty was bound to start hounding him for results.

As he looked through his files again, he found Juno’s HCPD profile and his attention was snagged by the picture attached to it.

The person he saw was not Juno Steel, or at least the Juno Steel he knew. The Juno in the picture could have easily been passed off as Benten. While his face was smooth and unblemished, and two dark blue eyes stared out of it at him, those weren’t even the biggest differences.

The cop who was known as Juno Steel smirked up at him, cocky and confident, but handsome in the same generic way Benten was.

While he stared at that picture, Nureyev thought about the scars that riddled Juno’s face, neck, and arms. He vaguely remembered Ramses talking about the private eye that busted his stash, that he had been injured in a fight before the HCPD arrived. The scars, however, all looked too uniform to be from a knife fight, and none of them resembled burns from blaster fire.

Nureyev shook the thought from his mind; the picture he was looking at was almost two decades old. There was no knowing how many of those scars came from the fight in the gangster’s vault five years ago without asking him.

The thought of getting to know Juno, to ask him those questions and learn more about the beautiful lady, was actually exciting for Nureyev. He thought about the gala the next day, and he briefly fantasised about how radiant Juno would be. Idly, Nureyev wondered if Juno would wear a gown, or perhaps a suit, before he shook his head.

He was getting distracted again, and he pointedly turned his attention back to his work. It was the height of stupidity to have allowed himself to become so distracted, especially knowing he would be leaving, cutting ties with Juno forever and disappearing.

Nureyev knew that he would have to do it after the gala. He would tell Juno that he had to leave Mars, and that their evening together would be the last chance to see each other. If all went well, they would eat, drink, and dance together, and perhaps he would be lucky enough to end the night with a beautiful lady in his arms and in his bed.

With that in mind, Nureyev finished up his work and tidied his hotel room. He locked the most sensitive information he had in a safe he had purchased the moment he arrived on Mars, and resolved to request that his sheets were changed the next day. Any other preparations could wait until the morning.

The next day, when Nureyev stopped by the front desk to request full turndown service in his room, he barely refrained from asking for something special to be sent up. While he had high hopes for the evening, Nureyev didn’t want to pressure Juno and he certainly did not want things to appear like he had planned them.

He did not go to the Old Town Cafe at all that day. Instead, he chose to run errands and prepare for the gala. The event was only barely related to his job, and only because Mayor Pereyra was supposedly hosting it. They wouldn’t be present, of course, but the entire affair was paid for by them and it presented an opportunity for Nureyev to take Juno out.

The day seemed to crawl by without seeing Juno, especially when Nureyev knew he would be meeting him that evening. There was a point in the afternoon when Nureyev caught himself legitimately pacing like a caged animal.

He was distracted, and worse, he didn’t even feel bad about it. That was unprofessional and dangerous, and Nureyev knew what he had to do. 

Though it broke his heart, the gala would be the last time he would see Juno Steel ever again.

* * *

Nureyev stepped out of the town car he hired and looked carefully up the stars to see Juno standing at the top of them. His back was to Nureyev, and he was just far enough away that even his glasses did nothing to help him make out details. What Nureyev could see was that Juno was wearing a red gown, and he was talking to someone rather animatedly.

There was something not quite right about Juno, but Nureyev was positive it was just the gown, or perhaps the distance.

Ascending the stairs as leisurely as he could, Nureyev nodded his greetings at various other attendees. He was almost halfway up the stairs when he began to realize what was wrong.

“Good even, darling,” he said carefully when he finally came to stand beside Juno, smiling politely at the person Juno was talking to.

Nureyev barely contained his shock when his gaze met that of _two_ dark blue eyes.

“Surprise, sugar,” Benten said with an icy tone while he grinned up at Nureyev. The stranger seemed to have clued in on the drop in temperature and quickly retreated.

“I thought it was pretty interesting that you asked little old me out to such a fancy gala,” Benten said with a tone that dripped with sarcasm.

“I didn’t,” he replied coolly. “I distinctly remember giving the invitation to Juno, unless you wear an eyepatch and draw scars all over your face for the evening crowd.”

Benten's smile stayed firmly in place while his gaze sharpened. “Ah, you see, Rex. You asked for the two things my darling _stupid_ brother insists he does not have.”

“Those would be?” Nureyev asked, genuinely puzzled. When Benten sighed, looking at him as if he was completely stupid, Nureyev certainly felt that he was.

“Beauty and charm, Rex,” Benten replied, raising an eyebrow before shrugging. “It’s mostly the beauty he’s caught up on, though.”

Suddenly, every moment he remembered losing Juno’s smile or attention, every single time Juno would close up and rebuff any further conversation, came into focus. He had been raining compliments on Juno for over a week, but Juno had thought… what? That he was making fun of him?

Or that they had been for Benten?

“And the dinosaur gets it! Amazing!” Benten celebrated mockingly and grabbed Nureyev’s arm when he turned to leave. “Nuh-uh, you’re not going anywhere, Rex. I still have some words for you, and this gown deserves a proper debut. I bought it for a wedding that never happened.”

Nureyev was a bit dumbstruck as he offered Benten his arm, guiding him into the gala and toward their table.

Everything he had planned had gone up in smoke, and now he had to reconfigure his plans. Did he make things right with Juno? Or finish things there and then, and never look back?

It was tempting; when trouble arose, he disappeared.

But selfishly, he did not want to leave while Juno thought he was cruel enough to ask his brother out through him. He did not want to leave without Juno knowing his feelings for him. But would that be any better in the end? Would that be any kinder than leaving that night and never seeing Juno again?

It was completely selfish, but Nureyev refused to leave until he had seen Juno properly smile, heard Juno properly laugh.

With a start, he wondered when he actually began having feelings for the detective-turned-barista. What he was feeling went far beyond wanting to hook up with a pretty face to make a dull job interesting.

“Why would Juno think I would ask _you_ out through him?” he finally asked, his stomach in knots about the entire mess. Benten had already picked up the drink menu and didn’t spare a look at Nureyev.

“Because it's happened probably a thousand times already, Rex,” Benten replied with a heavy sigh. “You are just the latest addition to a long line of terrible people my brother set his sights on.”

Benten let that statement hang in the air, ordering their drinks when the server swept past their table.

“Fortunately, though,” he eventually continued, “He _knows_ something is wrong with you. And that’s because you’re exactly the sort of ‘wrong’ he’s at least trained himself to see a mile away.”

“And that is?” Nureyev asked, but even as the question left his mouth, he knew the answer. Juno had figured him out completely, at least to some extent, the moment they officially met.

“Do you want me to say the c-word out loud, Rex? Because I mean, I _can_ ,” Benten said and Nureyev pinched his mouth into a hard line. Grinning at his tense expression, Benten said, “Let’s enjoy our drinks, and our dinner, then we can discuss the rest of this on the dance floor. I’m sure you have… work to do?”

Nureyev took a sharp breath in through his nose and looked away. Yet another layer to his assumed deception, that he would use Juno as a cover for more nefarious activities… Nureyev could hardly believe how much he messed the evening up.

“Not at all actually. This was purely for the pleasure of your brother’s company,” he replied, trying for a stern and unaffected tone. However, Nureyev couldn’t help the twinge of sadness that he would not have that time with Juno as he had hoped.

When Nureyev looked at Benten, he was surprised to see naked confusion on his face.

“This was, like, an actual date?” he eventually asked, and Nureyev was unable to stop the bark of bitter laughter that bubbled up.

“Oh no, you’re right. I always invite part-time private eyes out on a job with me. Keeps me on my toes, my skills sharp,” Nureyev snapped condescendingly with a roll of his eyes. “Of course it was an actual date, Benzaiten. I tend to _avoid_ voluntarily spending time with law enforcement, which makes my entire… fascination with your brother incredibly inconvenient.”

“Shit… I mean, wow,” Benten responded, and he did actually seem surprised, as if this had not factored into his equations of the situation at all.

“And you,” Nureyev began, nodding pleasantly at the server when they returned with their wine, waiting for them to leave. “You just accepted the invitation? Knowing that you and I barely like each other?”

“I wouldn’t say I barely like you, Rex. I don’t like you at all,” Benten quipped, rolling his eyes at Nureyev’s glare. “You don’t think I tried to reason with him? We’ve been either arguing or avoiding each other since you brought that stupid invitation in.”

When Nureyev opened his mouth to question him further, Benten shook his head.

“We can talk about it later. I would like to eat first,” he said quickly, and Nureyev could tell he was mulling things over, so he dropped it for the time being.

The evening passed relatively easily after that with Benten defaulting to their normal brand of “friendly” small talk and banter. After dinner, there were speeches which Nureyev ignored completely, and then finally the band started up again and the guests were invited to the dancefloor.

Nureyev stood and offered his hand, raising an eyebrow when Benten looked up at him doubtfully. 

“May I have this dance?” Nureyev asked, and snorted a bit when Benten made a bit of a show of accepting.

After the first few songs, Benten broke their silence, grumbling, “you’re a good dancer, Rex.” Benten sounded so legitimately put out about it, and Nureyev couldn’t have helped his laugh if he wanted to.

“Don’t sound too heartbroken, Benzaiten,” he said soothingly, smiling broad and toothily at Benten.

“Never said I was upset,” Benten snapped.

The response was so bratty and petulant that Nureyev was reminded that he was indeed Juno’s identical twin. Even the pout was so much like Juno’s, it brought a proper smile to Nureyev’s face.

“What?” Benten asked defensively, his face becoming very tense, and that hint of Juno was gone.

“You just actually looked like him for a moment,” Nureyev said, sighing a bit with disappointment. “Sounded like him, too.”

“We’re identical twins,” Benten replied with a raised eyebrow, but much of the hardness in his face had disappeared.

“That doesn’t mean you look like each other, and I don’t mean the scars or the eyepatch,” Nureyev said with a bit of a shrug. “There’s something deeper that sets you two apart, and sometimes it comes out in you.”

“We’re _identical twins_ ,” Benten repeated, but it was quite obvious he was working to stay annoyed with him. Nureyev let out a slow sigh as he twirled Benten.

“Yes, physically you’re both identical, and physically you’re both equally attractive, if that's what excites you. But you don’t _look_ or _sound_ like Juno,” Nureyev replied, holding Benten’s gaze. “You completely lack everything I’m attracted to in Juno.”

“You’re telling me you’re chasing my brother… because he’s a brat?” Benten asked, scoffing at that.

“No, I’m ‘chasing’ your brother because he has fire, a strong will, lives with his heart on his sleeve and, I don’t know,” Nureyev trailed off. He could have gone on forever about the differences between the Steel twins, about what made Juno infinitely more attractive and interesting than Benten ever could be. But they didn’t have that sort of time.

“I’m just shocked that no one else can see that about him,” Nureyev said instead, and Benten stared up at his face. His eyes were narrowed in thought, and he remained quiet until the next song began.

“Juno is softer than he looks, which means he’s easier to hurt,” Benten finally said. “A lot of people dish a lot of shit at him, thinking it doesn’t faze him. So a lot of people Juno liked— _loved,_ even, have told him they don’t want him.”

“They want you,” Nureyev said. It was unspoken, but Nureyev could see it easily in the way Benten’s mouth pressed together in a tight line. Benten sighed though, as if he had been mentally preparing himself to say it aloud, and Nureyev could tell that there were hurts there as well.

“I don’t know why they thought they would have any luck with me. But they would still try,” Benten said with an eye-roll, but Nureyev caught the glassy sheen of tears on his lashes. “Or they left him, thinking I would take them. We’ve even had someone play the long-game on us!”

Nureyev clenched his jaw, angry on Juno’s behalf and even angrier at himself. With a start, he realized he was just as angry for Benten, enraged that anyone would pit two brothers against each other like that constantly. He was furious that none of them seemed to realize what they had done was wrong until they were made to face consequences.

“People see someone like Juno, watch him take a beating from four grown men and stay standing,” Benten said with a sigh. “Then they decide his heart is just as tough. It’s like they go out of their way to break it.”

“And what about you?” Nureyev asked before twirling Benten again.

When their gazes met again, Benten’s expression was baffled. “What about me?”

“You’re very concerned about Juno, which is reasonable, but the toll this takes on you—”

“This isn’t about me, Rex,” Benten deflected instantly, his face hard. “This is about Juno.”

“Fine. What more is there to discuss?” Nureyev asked snappishly, and when he went to stop dancing, Benten glared at him. Rolling his eyes, he continued, “we have established that I have next to zero interest in you—”

“Except when I’m being a brat,” Benten interrupted and smiled sweetly at Nureyev’s glare.

“Will this be the end of your glaring and hostility?” Nureyev asked, genuinely curious.

“Not at all. Not even a little bit,” Benten replied. “There are more ways you can break Juno’s heart than dumping him for me, Rex. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.”

Nureyev raised his eyebrow just as the band began playing something slower, and Benten pressed in closer to him. “Do I?” he asked, though he knew exactly what Benten was saying.

“You’re not staying long, are you? Yet you come around daily, get Juno all wound up, then leave for the day,” he replied coldly. “But you’re leaving for good soon, right?”

Nureyev doesn’t allow himself a moment of selfish indignance at the accusation, because it was true. He had been intending to disappear after that very gala, after all.

“Yes,” he confirmed quietly, and Benten nodded.

“Did you know my brother doesn’t _do_ casual?” he asked, and it actually surprised Nureyev. “I mean, he’s tried just hooking up with people, but he hates it. Mopes for at least a week.”

Benten paused, letting the silence hang between them, which Nureyev did not break. Instead, they danced in silence, and he waited for him to continue.

“Juno puts everything he has into everything he does. It’s all or nothing with him, pedal to the metal,” Benten finally said, making direct eye-contact with Nureyev again. “The more you play around, the more it’s going to hurt him.”

Nureyev took a deep breath and watched Benten’s face while he thought. It was true, as little as he wanted it to be. Nureyev had to leave, but he wanted to see Juno, spend time with him. He wanted so much, but it seemed more and more reckless to take it, and not just because Juno was the private eye who helped confiscate the very items Nureyev had been hired to steal.

“What do you suggest I do, then?” he asked after a few moments, and Benten’s eyes narrowed at that.

“If I told you right now to never speak to my brother again, would you listen?” he asked.

“No,” Nureyev answered without hesitation. “Not because you told me to stay away, at least.”

Nureyev was stunned when Benten gave him what appeared to be a genuine smile.

“Here’s the deal Rex; I know you’re hiding something, something big, and most importantly so does Juno,” he said after a few more turns around the dance floor. “We both know Rex Glass isn’t your real name, and we both know your ‘job’ isn’t squeaky clean either.”

Nureyev hummed his acknowledgement, but he did not interrupt.

“The only difference between Juno and me? Juno is a private eye, and he _will_ figure it all out eventually,” Benten said, and Nureyev knew it was true. “So you want my advice?”

“Yes,” Nureyev replied instantly.

“Tell him. Before he digs it up. If you wait until then, it will not be pretty,” Benten responded as the song ended. He stopped moving and pulled Nureyev down by his tie so he could whisper, “You should also know that this galaxy is not large enough to hide from me. If you hurt him, I won’t leave enough of your body to be found. Understood?”

Nureyev had heard his fair share of threats, and had issued more than a few himself. It was obvious this was not a threat, but a promise, one that carved him deeply.

But Benten was pulling back to meet his eyes, his expression hard and smile gone. There was an earnest edge to his features, though, something that told Nureyev this wasn’t as simple as ‘leave my brother alone or else.’

“If you leave tonight, no harm, no foul. I’ll make something up to Juno,” Benten started. “But you show your face in his cafe again? Ever? You better be planning to tell Juno the truth, whatever that is.”

Nureyev nodded slowly, and said, “I understand.”

“Excellent. Well, I’m going to head home, long before curfew, to tell my darling brother just how boring you are,” Benten said with a clap of his hands, his shit-eating little grin back in place. “Perhaps he will see reason, finally.”

“Benzaiten, a moment please,” Nureyev said as he turned away, touching his arm gently. “Is there any way for this situation between us to be less hostile?”

“Nope,” Benten replied with a smirk, but his expression softened and he glanced away. “It really depends on you, Rex. Do right by him? And maybe I’ll stop disliking you.”

“Can I ask you one more thing?” he asked, and Benten nodded a bit. “Was letting him think I wanted you better for him?”

For the first time that evening, Benten actually appeared to look conflicted and was quiet for a few moments while he mulled the question over.

“I meant it when I said we’ve been doing nothing but argue, Rex,” he said eventually, his voice soft and his eyes honest. “I really tried to reason with him.”

“That doesn’t answer the question, Benzaiten,” Nureyev said sternly. “You could’ve stayed home, stood me up, yet you came. Is that better?”

“He’s hurt, Rex, like _really_ hurt,” Benten snapped, sounding annoyed again. “The way I figured it at the time, he was already hurt. I might as well go along with it, have a nice night, and make sure you understand. Fully.”

Nureyev watched his face for a few moments before nodding slowly. “Thank you then, Benzaiten,” he said, and Benten rolled his eyes.

“I’m doing what I can for my brother, Rex. I owe him that much,” Benten said, and that last bit was heavy with history. “The rest is up to you.”

With that, Benten turned away and Nureyev let him go, standing in the middle of the dance floor for a few moments.

Nureyev stayed for a few drinks, wallowing at the bar for a bit while he contemplated the decision he would have to make. But then the alcohol began to work on him, as well as his melancholy, and he called a cab to take him back to his hotel so that he might wallow some more in his room.

He laid back on the freshly turned-down bed, still wearing his suit and his hair still pulled back away from his face. Staring at the ceiling, he considered his options and realized it was a matter of two choices.

The first one, he does not return to Old Town Cafe ever again. Instead, he finishes his job, then leaves forever and never returns to Hyperion City at the very least. Juno’s heart would be broken, and he would assume Nureyev was just another in a long line of people who didn’t want or respect him.

The second choice was returning to the cafe, courting Juno, and telling him everything. Nureyev would still finish his work, and he would still leave, and Juno’s heart would still be broken, but it would be messier.

So the choice was between the clean break Juno deserved, and the… whatever they would be that Nureyev selfishly wanted.

And Nureyev was incredibly selfish.

The beeping of his comms broke through his thinking and he absently answered them. “Glass.”

 _“I’m hearing some interesting rumours from Pereyra’s charity gala, Rex,”_ came Ramses’ rough voice through the comms.

“And what might those be, Mr O’Flaherty?” Nureyev asked lazily, his lip raising in a sneer.

_“That you were there with Benzaiten Steel.”_

“My, those _are_ quite interesting rumours,” Nureyev said, rolling his eyes.

_“Don’t play coy with me, Glass. I told you—”_

“I was told not to ask the private eye any questions about the case,” Nureyev interrupted. “And I have not because any information he would have is irrelevant.”

_“Do not twist my—”_

“I have twisted nothing, Mr O’Flaherty. You did not tell me to stay away entirely, and what I do in my spare time is entirely my own business,” Nureyev interrupted sternly. “Can we agree on that at least, or is there some other reason you don’t want me around the Steels?”

 _“What exactly are you implying, Mr Glass?”_ Ramses asked, his tone so defensive that it immediately piqued Nureyev’s interest.

“Absolutely nothing, but perhaps I should have with that reaction,” Nureyev said with a laugh. “There might be good money there.”

 _“How did you even happen across them if you weren’t looking for Detective Steel?”_ Ramses asked instead.

“I was in the mood for coffee and happened to walk into their cafe,” Nureyev lied, sighing. “They make simply the best—”

_“Detective Steel’s cafe is all the way in Old Town! Why would you be there?”_

“Mr O’Flaherty, you seem confused about how this particular relationship works,” Nureyev snapped, and he could hear the old man’s angry breathing through the comms.

_“Then enlighten me, Glass.”_

“I am not your employee. I am a specialist you have requested to do a task your pet thug is unqualified for,” Nureyev replied, chafing at being micromanaged like this. “The entire point of our arrangements is that I do the dirty work with as little interference as possible, I give you the goods, and you give me _a lot_ of money.”

 _“And what is your point, Rex?”_ Ramses asked, and Nureyev laughed.

“My point is that the more you hover and call me, the more you tie yourself to my actions. Should I get caught, the first thing they will check is my comms,” Nureyev responded, his tone completely condescending. “They will see this call and make those messy connections. Do you understand my point now, O’Flaherty?”

_“I have hired you—”_

Nureyev was finished with the conversation. He was tired, tipsy and, worst of all, heart-sick, so he didn’t want to spend the rest of his evening on the comms with his client. “For a politician, you are quite dense, Mr O’Flaherty. Oh, no pardon me, that actually tracks fairly well.”

_“I will not be spoken—”_

“You are not my boss,” Nureyev said firmly, talking over the old man. “You have no power over me. I could leave this planet tomorrow morning without losing a thing. You need me more than I need you.”

Nureyev allowed the man a few more moments of spluttering before he hung up. The comms immediately began beeping again and Nureyev rolled his eyes. The old idiot was apparently used to far more respect, but he’d done nothing to earn his.

Ignoring the device completely, Nureyev got up and stripped, moving toward the bathroom for a quick shower before bed. However, he was confronted with a whole set of bath bombs, salts and oils on the lip of the huge two-person soaker tub which felt like salt in the wound. He hadn’t asked for such a set-up, but apparently the hotel staff had made assumptions.

Not wanting to waste the thoughtfulness, he drew a bath and soaked in it while he pondered his predicament with Juno. Nureyev spent such a long time rolling over the same two choices that the water in his bath turned cold and he was shivering.

So as he crawled into bed, Nureyev resolved that he would make his decision in the morning.

* * *

_**[JUNO]** _

Juno woke up in a terrible mood.

The night before, Glass had come into the cafe dressed like royalty and just as charming. He was handsome and smooth, and everything Juno wanted, which of course meant Glass wanted Benten. 

The only part that shocked Juno about the entire scenario was that he had been surprised at all. He had actually, truly thought it would be different.

Juno knew that Benten did not like the people who hurt him, and objectively he knew that Benten was only humouring Glass. Juno knew Glass would be on the first hauler off Mars the next evening after dealing with the wrath of Benzaiten Steel. 

But that did nothing to ease the hollow ache in his chest, the hurt that had settled deep in his gut, and Juno couldn’t find even a shallow enjoyment in the world of hurt Glass would be in the next evening.

The most frustrating part for Juno was that it made no sense being as hurt as he was. It wasn’t as if this hadn’t happened before with others, and he barely even knew Glass. There was a part of him that realized that he hadn’t felt anything like he did for Glass since Diamond, and those thoughts quickly became overwhelming.

Getting out of his bed, Juno decided that was all his fixation on Glass was. A rebound of some sort after the disaster that was Diamond, and it was only fitting that it turned out the way it had.

Juno was alone opening the cafe, with Benten already at his studio teaching an early ballet class. The quiet was nice, though, and Juno enjoyed the time on his own prepping for the breakfast rush.

An hour later, Rita arrived and finished opening the cafe for the public. She was a ball of energy, as usual, and she tore into a bag of her salmon snacks as soon as she was able.

“Heya, Boss, how’sit going?” she asked brightly as she turned on the monitor for her streams when Juno came out of the kitchen.

Juno sighed from where he stood, taking inventory of the various sandwiches he had already prepared and what he still needed.

“I’m not paying you to watch streams all day, Rita,” he said, and his tone was far harsher than he had intended. He was angry, yes, but that did not give him the right to take it out on Rita.

“What’s got you all sour this mornin’, Mista Steel?” she asked with a frown, her voice softer than it had been before.

“Nothing,” Juno snapped, cringing at how mean it sounded.

“This got anything to do with Mista Glass, Boss?” Rita asked with a raised eyebrow, and at Juno’s bewildered look, she pushed, “You figure something out about ‘im?”

With a sigh, Juno shut his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “No, I haven’t figured anything out. I’m fine,” he replied finally with a sigh. “He came by last night and asked Benten out to some gala tomorrow night.”

Juno startled at the loud, nasal bark of laughter Rita let out.

“Oh, that’s a good one, Boss!” she crowed when she finally settled her laughter enough to speak, but when Juno didn’t join her, it came to an abrupt stop. “Wait, are you serious, Boss?”

“Yes, I’m serious,” Juno said with a roll of his eyes. “Why wouldn’t he? Ask Benten to some stupid gala, I mean?”

“I dunno, Boss,” Rita replied with a helpless shrug. “I just kinda thought Mista Glass liked _you_.”

Juno scoffed. “Yeah, well, I guess we’re both morons, huh?” he said far more bitterly than he would have liked. “Ugh, whatever. It’s whatever, it’s fine. _I’m_ fine.”

“Mista Steel, I really think—”

“We have work to do, Rita,” Juno interrupted, his voice sharp and her name virtually growled. “And turn your damn streams down.”

Rita immediately jumped to grab the remote and adjust the volume, and Juno felt properly guilty for the first time that entire conversation. Her smile was gone and he had messed up terribly. There was a moment when Juno opened his mouth to apologise, but he wasn’t quite ready to end his sulk.

Juno was left alone in the kitchen for the next little while, and he stayed there when Benten arrived. He knew it was beyond unreasonable to hide from Benten, and he knew the situation wasn’t great for him either.

But there it was again, Benten getting everything Juno wanted, but Benten didn’t even _want_ it.

Juno knew Benten wasn’t built for “going steady” with anyone, only hooking up and parting ways in the morning. It was completely foreign to Juno, hitting and quitting it like that so often. Though, Juno was far from the poster child of commitment, only making a single very notable exception.

But Juno always went into things _wanting_ them to go long-term, wanting to have something he could keep and hold forever.

Benten didn’t, and yet he still got everything for it.

Guilt soured Juno’s gut at the way his thoughts turned about his brother, at the uncharitable view of Benten’s love life. There was nothing wrong with what Benten did, except for the few times Benten forgot to tell Juno he had someone over.

It just frustrated him that there were people who _wanted_ to have a serious relationship, to go steady, and they went for Benten every single time. The hardest thing for Juno was that he could see _why_ that happened. Benten looked like the sweet one, the one who wanted to have the whole white picket fence and two-point-five kids and a doting husband. Benten looked like spouse material, and Juno…

Needless to say, he apparently wasn’t. The one time he almost became someone’s wife, that blew up in his face, too.

Regardless, he knew he was being unfair, but he would die before he admitted that to Benten.

As if sensing his thoughts, Benten shouldered through the door to the kitchen and pulled Juno away from his prep table. “Okay, Princess, let’s talk this out.”

Juno glared and rolled his eyes, and asked, “Fine, I’ll bite; talk about what?”

“This!” Benten shouted, gesturing dramatically at Juno. “The sulking! Yelling at Rita! Insisting Rex asked me out!”

Juno scoffed and turned back to his work. “I’m not sulking, I didn’t yell at Rita, and Glass _did_ ask you out,” he replied in quick succession. “There, we’ve talked about it. Get out of my kitchen.”

“No, that isn’t talking about anything,” Benten snapped. “You’re being a brat—”

“And you’re being an asshole!”

“How the hell am I being an asshole, Juno?” Benten asked and Juno turned back around with a glare.

“Why are you arguing with me, Benten? You won— _again_ —whether you wanted the prize or not,” he said, uncharacteristically mean in a way he instantly regretted, but he was too hurt to back down. Backing down would mean actually talking about it. “So, take it. Go to the gala with Glass, give him the Benzaiten Treatment, and we’ll forget all about it.”

Benten’s mouth snapped shut with a click of his teeth, and Juno felt the guilt twist painfully in his gut. Juno was sure he was about to yell at him, but Benten only rolled his eyes and stormed out of the kitchen, leaving Juno to his own work preparing for the lunch rush.

Juno wouldn’t admit it, but he knew the moment Glass arrived.

He tried to reason that he had learned Glass’ routine, that he just knew when he would arrive in that way which was half true. If Glass didn’t show up shortly after they opened, he would come just before the lunch rush.

But Juno didn’t even need to check the time to confirm, because he knew by the way the bells on the front door barely made a sound. It was the crisp click of his heels on the tiles, with a slight hitch every few steps that came with a limp that was barely perceptible even while watching him. And Juno had watched him repeatedly.

If Juno was honest with himself, he would admit that it wasn’t that he had memorized the sound of Glass’ gait, or the quiet way he entered and left. It was his scent, an overwhelming smell, though not overpowering like other cologne or perfume. It was unique, like nothing else he had ever smelled before in his life, foreign enough to be from some other planet. Juno would swear he could smell it the moment Glass walked in, though he knew that was impossible given that he was behind a mostly closed door in a kitchen full of other smells.

It was annoying for Juno though because whenever he would point it out to Rita or Benten—complaining about how it lingered and stank up the dining room—neither of them knew what he was talking about. They were always confused whenever he brought it up because yes, Glass wore cologne, but no, it was never worn heavy enough to leave a lingering scent.

“I don’t see why you’re so upset about it, Boss. He smells good!” Rita had said the last time he brought it up.

Juno couldn’t tell her that that was the entire problem, so he didn’t and chose not to bring it up anymore.

He ventured a glance out the window of the kitchen door to see Glass, staying off to the side enough so he didn’t get caught. Glass was standing at the counter wearing an outfit designed specifically to ruin Juno’s day, what with the plunging neckline showcasing a thin, gold chain that appeared to frame his tits as if it were a proper bralette, accentuating what was visible of the soft swell of them. It was also the way Glass’ heels shaped his impossibly long legs beautifully in his _very_ fitted slacks, and the way his long hair was left loose around his shoulders.

Against his best wishes, Juno found himself taken by the sight of him, and heat pooled in his cheeks and gut.

Glass was so beautiful standing there, appearing baffled as Benten talked to him. Juno had the urge to go and talk to him, to demand what it was he didn’t have. Why Glass had to be just as cruel as almost every single one of Juno’s partners. Why he would come waltzing into his life right after Juno had finally gotten over Diamond’s betrayal.

Juno refused to make an even bigger fool of himself than he already had, and got back to work, resolving to ignore Glass completely from then on. He’d be gone soon anyway.

That evening, Juno stood in the bathroom at home washing his face and paid close attention to his eye where the sweat had built up under his eyepatch. He barely looked at the mess of scars, and didn’t even spare a glance at the ruined eye.

“Look at you, Juno.” Hands, ones he had only ever known as gentle and caring, grabbed his eyepatch and pulled it off. He wasn’t wearing his engagement band anymore, Juno noticed.

“Seriously,  look at you. ” It was spat at him following a disgusted sneer that he had caught before he was turned to look in the mirror. Saw the utter look of distaste over his shoulder in the glass.

The hand holding his arm was tight and painful. He didn’t look at his face, only stared at Diamond, reeling that it was happening at all. The front door opened, and he almost shouted for him to stop. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to shout at Diamond or Benten.

“Your piss-poor attitude was only cute when you looked like—” Diamond cut himself off when Benten shouted something at him. Juno couldn’t remember what Benten had said, his head spinning around where Diamond had been heading with that sentence.

“... shit. Juno, I’m sorry—” Diamond was addressing Juno, but he was looking at Benten. He was looking directly at Benten and something snapped in Juno’s gut.

“Shit…” Juno hissed, realizing he was about to cry and he shook his head, trying to free himself of that memory. Juno wasn’t sure he would ever be free of it.

He moved to the kitchen to start on dinner, the menial task enough to help his head go silent.

Juno heard Benten get home, but he didn’t acknowledge him in any way. With another argument visible on the horizon, he would put off speaking to his brother as long as possible.

Benten, however, had other plans.

“Oh, hello, Juno. Glad to be home. Love living with a glacier,” he snarked, and Juno heard him stomp across the living room. “ _Now_ let’s actually talk.”

Juno let out a loud breath through his nose and turned to glare at Benten. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore. I’m done,” he said as evenly as he could manage.

“No, you don’t just get to decide to be done with it, Juno. You don’t get to treat Rita and me the way you have all day and be ‘done’ with it,” Benten replied, absolutely vibrating with his anger.

Juno’s glare darkened. “I’m not going to say anything nice right now.”

Something behind Benten’s carefully constructed demeanour snapped, and Juno was instantly aware he had pushed things too far.

“That works just fine for me, Juno, because I’m done being nice to you about it,” Benten all but growled, crossing his arms. “I’m sick of being punished every time you think these guys fuck you over.”

“And how do you think it feels—”

“I know it hurts, Juno! I _know_ that!” Benten interrupted, his tone pleading. “And I _know_ it’s been really rough since Diamond left—”

Juno flinched at the name. “Don’t—”

“But you’re not the only one who lost shit, Juno! You’re not the only one whose heart got broken,” Benten finished, shouting down whatever Juno had been gearing up to say.

That did effectively shut him up. Diamond had been Juno’s worst heartbreak, the nightmare becoming reality, the confirmation that someone could say they loved Juno for over a decade and still leave him. The idea that Benten had a stake in that baffled him completely.

“The hell is that supposed to mean?” Juno finally asked, his anger flaring again.

“Holy shit, Juno. For how smart you are, you’re dumb as hell,” Benten snapped. “Diamond was my _best friend_. Do you realize how hard it is for me to have friends who won’t try for more? I thought he was different, for over a decade I thought he was _different_.”

“You knew before it ever blew up, Benten! And you said nothing!” Juno bit out. “You _knew_ —”

“I knew for less than two weeks, and I told him to talk to you!” Benten replied, exasperated. “I figured it was a rough patch, something you two would get over, like you always did. So I said. Nothing. And maybe that was a mistake, but it happened and I’m _sorry_ I trusted my best friend to do the right goddamn thing, since he _promised_ me— no, nevermind. That doesn’t matter.”

Juno stared at Benten, eyes wide and thoughts whirling with the new information. But it wasn’t new, just as he knew situations like the one with Diamond were upsetting to Benten, but he had no idea the depth of that hurt. Benten had never said anything about it.

“Ben—”

“No,” Benten said sharply, and Juno’s mouth shut with a click of his teeth. “Get your head out of your ass, Juno. The pity party is getting old.”

Benten’s eyes were filled with tears as he turned to storm down the hall to his room, slamming the door behind himself.

Alone again in the kitchen, Juno finished making dinner, but found it impossible to eat with his gut so sour with guilt.

* * *

There was pain in his right eye as he blinked the blood away. The grimy walls of a cellar surrounded him and he could see her. There was the flash of a knife, and then nothing but the sounds of his own screaming. He can’t remember if he had actually begged, but in the dream he did while it felt like the right side of his face was splitting open completely.

“Look at you, Juno!” Diamond shouted from across the room. Juno knew it was impossible for Diamond to have been there, that he was just a shade, a future hurt reaching back through time to the moment it all got ruined.

His head lolled as he sobbed, panting for breath after his screaming. Juno wants to stop it, stop the dream right there. He knew what he would find looking over there, as he found it nearly every night, just as he had back in that basement.

There was a mirror, or the broken shard of one, and Juno was confronted with the bloody mess where his right eye should have been.

“Seriously,  look at you !”

His stomach churned at the sight, and at the pain, and the guilt. When he heaved dryly, the monster laughed.

“Oh, are you squeamish, P.I.? Watch it now— there she blows!”

Juno woke up with a shout, his stomach roiling and he stumbled noisily to the bathroom. He barely reached the toilet before he was heaving violently. Juno sat on the bathroom floor for a long time, leaning against the tub and taking calming breaths. 

“It's over, Steel, you're not there anymore,” he whispered to himself, wiping sweat and tears away from his face. He could still feel the bindings secured too tightly, the knife destroying his eye, the nausea at seeing the mangled mess of it. The memory of his ruined eye was stuck in his mind, and he saw it like an after-image on every blink. 

It was the first nightmare he’d had in weeks, and he hated himself for still having it.

Later, at the cafe, Juno kept an ear out for Glass’ arrival, peeking through the window in the kitchen door. There was no sign of the criminal, which should have given Juno some relief, but had the opposite effect instead. He intended to ignore Glass, but he still wanted to see him, and it didn’t count as ignoring him if the man wasn’t even there.

When it became clear that Glass would not be coming, Juno began hanging out behind the counter with Rita, half-heartedly watching her streams. It was a slow day for business, so Juno didn’t feel too bad about slacking off. Benten was sitting at one of the tables across the dining room, playing on his comms and pointedly ignoring Juno.

Juno let out a slow breath and Rita snapped. “Okay, Mista Steel, I’ve had it! I can’t take it anymore with all the sighin’ and breathn’ and sad-eyen’ and all that. I just can’t!” she all but wailed, though there was a stern undertone to her words. “You gotta get less sad right now or do somethin’ else!”

For a few moments, Juno just blinked at her before he asked a bewildered, “What?”

Rita made a loud noise in her throat, not unlike a rocket revving up, and said, “No! Don’t you ‘what’ me, Mista Steel! I won’t have it!”

Before Juno could argue back, the front bell jingled loudly as Mick walked in. “Heya, guys!” he said brightly, grinning at Benten as he passed on his way to Rita and Juno.

“Perfect timing, Mista Mercury!” Rita beamed, already grabbing at Juno’s apron strings to remove it for him. “Take Mista Steel somewhere for a couple’a hours, why dontcha!”

“Hey, yeah! No problem, Rita,” Mick said, looking baffled but delighted. 

Juno spluttered a bit, trying to fend off Rita’s hands. “No, I still have—”

Rita made another one of her engine revving noises and shook her head. “I’ll do it, or Mista Benzaiten will do it, whatever it is. I don’t care, Mista Steel,” she said firmly. “Your mopin’ is bad for business, and I can’t enjoy my streams!”

Mick laughed. “C’mon, JayJay. Let’s just do what the beautiful lady asks, yeah?”

“Awww, Mista Mercury! You’re makin’ me blush!” she beamed, though she was obviously unfazed by that compliment and was already turning her attention back to her stream.

Juno allowed himself to be dragged off to the shooting range, and for the first few targets, Mick kept the conversation strictly about his aim and speed.

After about forty-five minutes, Mick ventured, “So, JayJay… what’s got you so fired up?”

There was a moment when Juno had his snappish comment on the tip of his tongue, ready to tell Mick exactly where he could go with that question. But when he opened his mouth, it was like the floodgates had been opened.

“Glass asked Benten to some stupid gala tonight,” Juno replied, then huffed at Mick’s confused look. “He chatted both of us up for more than a week, and then he asked _Benten_ out.”

Mick waited for Juno to finish, and then gave him a couple more moments before asking, “Glass… being Rex, right? The guy who’s your type? That you were interested in?”

Juno made an angry noise at that and started shooting the next target with gusto. “I never said I was into him, Mick. but yes, the guy who is supposedly my type,” Juno snapped before laughing humorlessly. “Which, I mean, him asking my brother out sure is par for the goddamn course.”

“Jay—”

“I mean, even if I was into Glass, who would I be kidding? Right? I mean, have you looked at him?” Juno asked with a bitter laugh. “Someone that— that— _hot_ wouldn’t waste his time with me. If I wanted him at all that is. But he’s too— and I’m just not. I wouldn’t even think about that. With him. You know.”

“You know that’s not something I can really relate to, JayJay,” Mick said with a bit of a laugh.

“Yeah, I know, sorry,” Juno replied with a sigh. “But it’s _fine_ , because even if he _was_ my type, he’s not sticking around, so I’m not interested. And he’s a criminal, probably, so it’s whatever.”

“Wait, a what—”

“And he asked me to give Benten the goddamn invitation! So, obviously he’s a piece of crap, so at least Benten will treat him like one,” Juno continued before shooting up another target. “But again, I _wasn’t_ actually interested in him. At all. So him asking Benten out was _fine_.”

“Hey, can we just back it up a bit, Jay?” Mick asked, tone very obviously bewildered. But Juno ignored him.

“What’s annoying is Benten doesn’t even seem interested in him! Glass went through all that trouble, playing both of us, and chose the brother who didn’t even _want_ him,” Juno said before adding, “Not that I want him at all. I’m just saying if one of us did want him, it’s definitely not Benten.”

“Hi, Mr Steel?” a young employee said as they stopped next to Mick. “Can you please lower your voice just a little bit?”

“What, you got a noise complaint at a shooting range?” he snapped, and guilt swarmed his gut at the employee’s flinch and Mick’s mildly disappointed look. “Sorry, that wasn’t— what’s the problem?”

The employee sighed with some relief and said, “I don’t really care, but my supervisor will have me kick you out if you keep yelling about specific people while handling a firearm. Company policy. You remember last time, right?”

“Oh, yeah, that makes sense, I remember,” Juno said with a small nod, his face heating up. He had been kicked out once, shortly after Diamond left him and while he was still ignoring Benten, and the memory still embarrassed him. “I’ll talk quieter.”

The employee smiled at him and headed back to their spot at the counter on the other side of the laser-proof glass.

Mick waited until the employee was definitely out of earshot before he said, “So, walk me through _exactly_ how Glass asked Ben out.”

Juno rolled his eyes. “I told you—”

Mick huffed and shook his head. “No, JayJay. Not what you _say_ he did, what he _actually_ did.”

“That makes no goddamn sense, Mercury,” Juno deadpanned, putting the blaster on the table in front of him to cross his arms.

“Sure it does,” Mick said as flatly as someone as good-natured and goofy as Mick Mercury could manage. “Listen, if I’m trying to sound tough, I’ll talk about how often I come to the shooting range, see? The _real_ story is I never actually touch a blaster—”

“Mercury, you already know how to use—”

“— _but_ what people _hear_ is that I have a lot of practice!” Mick finished, completely unaffected by Juno’s attempt at interrupting. 

“Fine, Mercury, I’ll bite,” Juno said with a raised eyebrow. “I was closing the cafe, Glass walked in dressed like a goddamned prince, told me about this gala, handed me an invitation, and said he wanted ‘beautiful’ and ‘charming’ company. Then he left.”

“So,” Mick started slowly, furrowing his brow in puzzlement. “He didn’t actually _say_ he wanted Benten to join him?”

It was Juno’s turn to frown in confusion. “I _just said_ , he asked for Benten—”

“No, you said he handed _you_ an invitation and asked for a ‘beautiful’ and ‘charming’ date,” Mick interrupted with a roll of his eyes.

Juno’s gut twisted with something like _hope_ and he hated himself for it. “Well, yeah, but that obviously means—”

“Listen, Jay-man, I love you, but I think you’ve got a thing for hurting your own feelings,” Mick said with an affectionate eye-roll.

“Hey—”

“I know I’m not, like, the best person to talk about dating and sex and all that,” he started again, ignoring Juno’s interjection, “but I think if I was asking someone out, someone who has, y’know, an identical twin, I would try to be super clear about which one I was talking about.”

Juno turned back toward the targets with a childish _hmph_ in acknowledgement, picking the blaster up and lifting it.

“What I mean is, just, if he was being vague and flirty and asking someone out to something that required an invitation, doesn’t it make sense that the person he handed the invitation to was the one he was asking out?” Mick asked.

Juno paused, contemplating his words and he realized Mick almost made sense. He was sceptical, because he was neither charming, nor was he beautiful. But the ‘what if’ was incredibly tempting.

“And I know a lot of guys have pulled that on you and Ben since we were kids,” Mick said quickly, “but aren’t they usually pretty straightforward about it?”

Juno lowered the blaster again and bit the inside of his cheek. “Diamond wasn’t,” Juno said softly, sadly, his shoulders slumping.

When he looked back at Mick, his face had fallen a bit. “Yeah, I guess so…” Mick trailed off a bit, shrugging. “Still think he meant you, though.

Mick mercifully dropped the subject after that, changing to discussing his latest job as a security guard at the new hospital that was just built near Old Town.

“So, you actually applied?” Juno asked, laughing at Mick’s proud expression.

“Yup, with my own resume!” Mick said with a grin. “With my name on it, and did _both_ interviews and everything!”

“Wow, Mercury, look at you,” Juno said, genuinely impressed. “All grown up at thirty-seven.”

“Thanks, Jay!” Mick beamed, puffing up proudly with a broad grin.

Juno was in a much better mood when he returned to the cafe. He had the intent to talk to his brother about everything, about Glass and the gala. He wasn’t quite sure what he planned to do after, but he was going to talk to his brother regardless.

When he stepped through the door, however, he didn’t see Benten anywhere and frowned.

“Heya, Boss! Feeln’ any better?” Rita said with a tentative grin on her face.

“Like a new lady,” Juno replied absently, still looking for Benten. “Where’s Ben?”

Rita’s smile faltered. “Mista Benzaiten left about an hour ago. To get ready,” she said a bit tensely.

Just like that, Juno felt like garbage all over again. If Glass didn’t want to take Benten out, Benten wouldn’t have been getting ready, he thought. To Juno, it just felt like confirmation that Benten and Glass were on the same page for the evening. Juno’s brief Mercury-induced epiphany at the shooting range was completely unravelling under his low self-esteem.

But Juno just nodded, biting the inside of his cheek. “Right. Makes sense,” he said, hating himself for the burning in his eyes. “I’m going to start cleaning the kitchen.”

A few hours later, Juno and Rita stood outside the cafe to lock up. Juno sighed and smiled down at his best friend. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Rita.”

Rita just made a sharp noise at that and grabbed Juno’s hand, tangling their fingers together. “Nuh-uh, Mista Steel. I’m coming over for dinner and streams!”

Juno laughed and began walking. “Are you?” he asked.

“Yup! We’ll have a ladies night, just the two of us!” she said with an aggressive nod. “We can do our nails, and you can braid my hair, and we can talk about stuff and watch something really, really, _rrr_ really good!”

Juno just grinned down at her and nodded. “That actually sounds really nice, Rita,” he said a bit wistfully.

“‘Course it does, Boss! It’s my idea!”

Dinner turned out to be the leftover pasta from the night before, but Rita ate it like it was a gourmet meal, gushing to Juno the whole time. After dinner, Rita “forced” Juno to watch one of her streams, one of the action streams she was so fond of that had zero romance in it. It was a deliberate choice, one that Juno appreciated.

Usually on their ladies nights, they watched something cheesy and full of swelling, romantic music that always made Rita cry and somehow Juno always got an eyelash stuck in his eye.

Just as Rita promised, they painted each other’s nails before Juno braided her hair. Soon, they were buried in blankets, with empty pints of ice cream strewn across the coffee table, and Rita passed out on top of him. Juno had been sitting when she fell asleep, but for someone so small, Rita was incredibly dense. It eventually became easier to lay down than try to stay sitting while she leaned against him.

Juno must have dozed off because he was startled awake when the front door got unlocked and opened noisily. Rita was slower to rouse, but only seemed to have woken because Juno jumped, and immediately began blearily reaching for something. Juno knew she was reaching for a bucket, so he just gently grabbed her wrist and helped her sit up; she had helped him through the worst of his nightmares with Benten, especially after Diamond gave up trying and left.

Looking at the front door, Juno watched Benten put away his shoes and jacket in the entryway closet, then checked the time on his comms. Rita was rubbing her eyes, sliding off of Juno’s lap onto the couch beside him.

“Nine is pretty early,” Juno said sceptically, raising an eyebrow.

At that, Rita jumped up off the couch and straightened herself out. “I’ll see both of you tomorrow!” she said quickly, grabbing her bags and hurrying to the door. “Night, Mista Steel! Night, Mista Benzaiten!”

Benten saw her out, locking the door behind her before letting out a dramatic sigh. “Well, Rex is an _awful_ date,” he said with a big pout, walking across the room to drop onto the couch next to Juno. “Distracted the whole time, barely wanted to talk about little old me, and was a cold fish of a dancer.”

Juno snorted and rolled his eyes, and he could see Benten grinning in his peripheral vision.

“Positively _dreadful_ , Juno!” he complained dramatically. “You truly dodged a blaster bolt with this one.”

Juno made a face, and chuckled again. “Did you have fun messing with him, at least?” he asked.

Benten blew a raspberry. “Barely,” he said, but did not elaborate. “Either way, he’s probably leaving.”

They sat there for a while in the quiet, and Juno found himself feeling intensely sad. He didn’t know what he expected when Benten came home, but it hadn’t been what his brother had described. Juno especially had not expected the announcement that Glass was leaving to hurt so much in his heart.

Benten dropped his head heavily against Juno’s shoulder with a sigh. When Juno finally looks down at Benten, he’s pouting. “What?” Juno asked with a snort.

“You’re not still mad at me, are you?” Benten asked, and while the pout was exaggerated and goofy, his tone was deeply sad and worried, and Juno felt intensely guilty about his attitude the past couple of days.

“I’m always mad at you, Ben,” he teased, but the levity slipped away quickly, remembering what Benten had said about Diamond the night before. “Ben, I should’ve known you—”

“No, stop, stop, please,” Benten said quickly, sitting up to meet his gaze. “Don’t take that on, too. I didn’t tell you to get an apology. I didn’t even tell you for any productive reason, honestly. I shouldn’t’ve said it at all, and it was super shitty of me.”

“But I should’ve—”

“I didn’t tell you, so you didn’t know,” Benten interrupted. “And before you ask, I didn’t tell you because I blamed myself when it happened, and when you started talking to me again, you had so much going on. Being sad about my deal seemed really dumb, so I didn’t say anything.”

“Ben, _that_ is dumb,” Juno groaned, rolling his eyes at Benten’s little laugh. “Seriously, Benten, don’t hide shit from me. Okay?”

Benten just grinned and hugged Juno tightly before getting up. “Okay! Time to get out of this nightmare of a gown, though. Feels like it’s been gouging my ribs for the past _hour_!”

Juno put on a show of laughing at Benten’s recounting of the night, especially when he mocked Glass and complained about the food, the wine, and the music.

But all he could think about was Glass leaving, and that little part of Juno that still desperately wanted him ached.

* * *

Juno woke up ungodly early the next morning, his entire body screaming about being roused before the sun. It was a competition day with the other restaurants, so he needed to get as early a start as he could.

It was stupid, the competition, but the whole point was to get Juno out of the cafe and talking to other people. That, of course, meant it had been Rita’s idea.

Throughout the morning, Juno thought about his situation with his feelings and Glass, about how Glass wouldn’t be returning. If the date with Benten had really gone that terribly, Juno doubted he would come back for more humiliation.

Juno decided to stop worrying about handsome criminals, and to stop letting handsome men spoil his relationship with his brother. As he walked back to his cafe from Hyperion Brewing, he felt his spirits lifting and took a deep breath. He was determined to forget all about Glass.

As he stepped through the door of his cafe, Juno felt the presence first, and then the scent hit him, almost bowling him over.

Just a few paces away, seated in his usual corner, was Rex Glass, watching him. He looked impossibly soft, wearing a turtleneck sweater and his hair tied up in a messy bun.

“Good morning, Juno,” Glass said gently, and Juno’s breath left him in a rush.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chain Nureyev is wearing is loosely inspired by this lovely chain which is literally called a "[bralette chain](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/66/84/c3/6684c3f660b571cf0d741b1f0a2d0d6d.jpg)".
> 
> The messy bun [stubborn_jerk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stubborn_jerk/pseuds/stubborn_jerk) drew in their art for our fic _[wood stove, like a warm heart](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27057256)_ has lived rent-free in my head since I saw it so [ _*throws confetti*_ ] have it.


	3. claw my way out through these walls - [ART]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A promise, a date, and a throat-bared confession...  
>  _ **NOW WITH ART**_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a reminder that Nureyev is a **gender euphoric trans man** who has **not had top-surgery** and does **not wear a binder**. I use a mix of **masculine and feminine teminology** when describing his body.
> 
> **ART DRAWN OF/FOR THIS CHAPTER!**
> 
>   * [SJ](https://twitter.com/drawssj) drew me the beautiful art below bc they spoil me lots and I adore them and the art and I'm crying y'all I'm litralee crying right now as I write this note. I don't know how to fake cry-typing so like, please know, I can barely see the screen through my tears.
>   * So Marina ([Tumblr](https://marina-does-things.tumblr.com/)|[Twitter](https://twitter.com/vermilion_shade)) has drawn Juno's dress too and I'm WEEPING you can find the post [here](https://marina-does-things.tumblr.com/post/636074968335138816/peter-nureyev-voice-my-wife)!
> 


* * *

_**[NUREYEV]** _

Nureyev hadn’t even realized he was walking into the Old Town Cafe that morning until he made eye contact with Benten, who appeared to be completely unimpressed. Rita, however, had beamed at him.

“Hiiii Mista Glass!” she called loudly across the dining room before hissing at Benten, “Pay up, I called it.”

“You took a bet on whether I would come?” Nureyev questioned as he approached the counter.

“I usually only make bets when I’m confident on my odds,” Benten replied sourly. “Guess I wasn’t clear enough last night.”

“Oh, you were plenty clear, Benzaiten,” Nureyev said with a smirk. “I suppose I wasn’t clear enough about my intentions.”

“Here you go, Mista Glass!” Rita interrupted, shoving Nureyev’s usual breakfast into his hands. “Boss ain’t here right now, cos he’s got that whole competition thingy with the other restaurants.”

“Thank you, Rita. You are truly a gem,” he said with a pleased smile.

He sat down at his usual spot and pulled out a notebook and his comms. Since he was so close to finishing the job, he didn’t bother to bring his laptop. It was really only busy work he was doing at that point. Anything for an excuse to stay and fool around with a semi-retired private eye, really.

When the bell over the front door clanged loudly, followed by the near-stomping steps he knew to be Juno Steel’s, Nureyev had had grand plans to ignore the private eye, to wait and see if he would come to speak to him first.

But Nureyev never did have much self-control when he allowed himself sticky things like feelings, and he always did have a flare for the dramatic… 

When he looked up, Juno hadn’t seen him yet and he was allowed a brief moment to admire the beautiful lady for the first time in what he realized was two days. 

Juno was radiant as always, wearing his heavy boots and a cotton skirt, showing off his muscled legs. The detective’s simple, nearly threadbare wardrobe that he wore to work was something that Nureyev had always found endearing. The idea of being able to keep something long enough for it to show it’s well-loved age was completely foreign to Nureyev.

Then Juno inhaled sharply through his nose and turned to look in his direction, his visible eye wide but his expression completely unreadable. When Juno didn’t _do_ or _say_ anything after a few moments, Nureyev decided to say something to rile the lady up a bit and give Nureyev one of his beautiful overreactions to break the awful silence that was growing between them.

“Good morning, Juno,” he said, and he knew it came out dripping with every besotted thought he had ever entertained about Juno. Nureyev could see it in the way Juno’s expression twisted just a bit as he released the breath he was holding in a gusty sigh through his nose and stomped over. 

“Didn’t think you’d come back,” Juno said as he sat down heavily across from him, his tone hard and not even bothering to return his ‘good morning’. Nureyev met his gaze over the rims of his glasses and something ached in his chest at the hurt he saw on Juno’s face.

“I considered staying away,” Nureyev confessed.

“But you didn’t, huh?” Juno supplied with a snort, crossing his arms. “Ben told me you’re a terrible date.”

“Yes, well,” Nureyev hummed, smirking as he returned to writing in his notebook. “That is bound to happen when the wrong date shows up.”

There was a long beat of silence.

“What.” Juno said it so flatly, it hadn’t even sounded like a question. It was a statement of confusion, and one that didn’t even necessarily demand an answer. For a detective, Nureyev figured, asking questions was more of a courtesy to others.

So when he looked back up at Juno, he was nearly winded by how his beautiful face softened with confusion. Nureyev wasn’t sure he had ever wanted to kiss another person in his life more than he did in that moment.

“Yes, I remember handing my second invitation to a clever private eye and paid him a great many compliments that hardly cover my true feelings for him,” Nureyev elaborated with a dreamy sigh. “Yet, when I arrived, it was his twin brother who met me. To say I was confused would be an understatement, Juno, and given that his brother and I barely tolerate each other—”

“Wait, what?” Juno sputtered, shaking his head. “Start over, and without the dramatics.”

“Well, that’s no fun at all—”

“Glass,” Juno warned.

Nureyev shifted so that he was leaning on the table with his elbows. “Juno, I had asked for you to go with me,” he said, straightforward and earnest. “My work is coming to an end soon, and I wanted to have a nice evening with you before I left.”

Juno shook his head in disbelief. “But, Ben—”

“Has nothing to do with this,” Nureyev pushed, reaching across the table between them to rest his hand on Juno’s forearm. “I would like an opportunity to correct my blunder—”

Juno wrenched away from Nureyev’s touch as if it had burned him, and chewed the inside of his cheek. When he stood up, Nureyev reached to stop him but Juno just shook his head and retreated as quickly as he could to the kitchen. Rita made a sad sound and followed him.

Nureyev sat there for several moments, shocked at the turn in the conversation before schooling his expression into something cool and unfazed. He turned back to his notes and stayed at his table for hours, looking back up occasionally to see if Juno was going to return. Nureyev hoped his face didn’t show just how much it hurt when Juno didn’t.

The next two days went about the same way, with Nureyev only seeing Juno for brief intervals. Nureyev began to wonder if Benten would let him off the hook by virtue of Juno completely refusing to see him again.

By the third day, Nureyev was discouraged, though hoped he was fairly successful in not showing it.

He was sitting at his spot in the cafe watching some surveillance footage he had recorded, trying to find the cleanest take for each camera. The idea was that he would hijack the video feeds and loop some pre-recorded footage of empty halls, effectively hiding in plain sight as he snuck in.

As the lunch hour approached, he heard the kitchen door swing open. Nureyev paused the video to look up, and he truly disliked how much it upset him that it wasn’t Juno coming out, but Benten instead. Schooling his expression into a cool mask of disinterest, Nureyev looked back at the footage and hit play.

His work had been put off as long as possible, and it was only a matter of time before O’Flaherty contacted him again. Or worse, called in another thief. But that meant cutting his losses with Juno, which was for the best in more ways than one. It simply made no proper sense being so singularly focused on the private eye at all; they had rarely spoken, and when they did Juno was cagey and suspicious, his moments of openness fleeting and rare.

But those moments were captivating, pulling Nureyev in against the current, and all he could think about was the way Juno’s brow would soften and his jaw would clench just before he chewed the inside of his cheek. He thought of Juno’s smirk and the way it would settle into a soft smile and, even rarer, a genuine huff of laughter at a particularly well-timed joke. 

Nureyev wanted to bottle each and every one of those moments and take them with him, but he supposed the memories would have to do.

“Ugh, this is getting _depressing_ ,” Benten burst out, loudly and without warning, and stormed around the counter to sit at Nureyev’s table. “What are you doing?”

Nureyev looked at his coffee, and then to his work before asking in a stage whisper, “Is this a trick question, Benzaiten?”

“I mean about our _deal_ , Rex,” Benten said with a roll of his eyes.

“My job here on Mars is ending,” Nureyev replied, closing his laptop and leaning across the table to give Benten his full attention. “I will be leaving shortly after regardless of outstanding affairs.”

“Bullshit,” Benten snapped. “You claim to really care about—”

“I have already delayed as much as I can, Benzaiten. My… client is growing impatient with the lack of results, especially seeing as I billed the work as child’s play at our consultation,” Nureyev hissed. “I would rather not leave without talking to Juno, and I was truly intending to keep to our deal, but I do not have the luxury of time to wait for him to work through whatever he’s feeling.”

Benten rolled his eyes. “Whatever, Rex,” he muttered as he moved to get up.

Something about the tone was the final straw, the constant needling from Benten and Juno’s avoidance and Ramses’ micromanagement becoming too much.

His hand flashed across the table, grabbing Benten’s wrist to pull him back down into his seat. Leaning across the table, Nureyev schooled his expression into something pleasant. “You are a spoiled _brat_ , do you know that?” Nureyev said through gritted teeth. “You’ve pranced through life with this cocky little attitude, all the while Juno probably took every slap, punch, and insult that _you_ earned.”

“Hey—”

“I can see it in the way you hold yourself next to him, the way Juno steps in front of you if it seems you’ve put your foot in it,” Nureyev continued, looking him up and down. “Do you even realize you’ve made him your shield?”

Benten did not answer, only stared at Nureyev with a raised eyebrow, though he did actually appear cowed. Nureyev would take it, and allowed himself one of his work smiles that showed off too many teeth, and not an ounce of kindness to soften the blow.

“You go on and on as if you understand exactly what I am, but I _know_ it was Juno that figured it all out because he’s the clever one,” he continued unkindly and leaned back, watching Benten’s face. “I will say this again, but only because I hope it is repeated to Juno; I have delayed as long as possible, and will have to act soon. Once I have, I’m leaving and never returning.”

Nureyev moved to stand, but Benten held his hand up to stop him.

“Maybe you should stay for lunch today,” he said.

“What part of—”

“Yeah, yeah, I got all that and I’ll pass it on,” Benten replied and rolled his eyes. “He’ll probably come right out, yeah?”

“Possibly,” Nureyev said as he leaned back in his chair. “He’ll at least confirm what I am saying makes sense. I’m not making excuses to weasel out of something I _wanted_ to do.”

Benten nodded, looking hurt and angry, and stood. For a moment, Nureyev felt a twinge of guilt watching him walk away, but it passed quickly when he remembered the constant antagonism. When Benten was gone, Rita scurried over to sit with him and gave him one of her brightest smiles.

“Wow, Mista Glass, I’ve never seen someone talk like that to Mista Benzaiten,” she said excitedly. “He’s a sweetheart, honestly, but I know he’s also really mean when he wants to be, y’know?”

“I didn’t mean to snap at him like that,” Nureyev said, because he thought he _should_ say something like that.

“Yeah you did,” Rita laughed. “ _And_ he deserved it for what he’s been doin’.”

“What does that mean?” Nureyev asked, and he jumped a bit at Rita’s explosive sigh.

“What I’m sayn’ is Mista Benzaiten has a lot of good reasons to be suspicious of you, and I kinda agree. We’re both real tired of people hurtn’ Mista Steel, y’know?” She did not wait for Nureyev to respond to her question. “But I dunno, you look at him different and I think Mista Benzaiten sees that, too, but he’s scared. He thought someone looked at Juno different before, and that went _real bad_ for both of them but that’s besides the point—” she took a deep breath and when Nureyev opened his mouth to ask for more information, she continued, “He gave you one of those ulti-whatever’s and you held up your end of it and he’s just sittn’ there lettn’ you fail! Which I said wasn’t fair, and let me tell ya Mista Glass, I was _not_ happy that Mista Benzaiten actually went on that date with you. I _told_ him to come clean, to tell you Mista Steel didn’t understand you asked him out and that going along with his conclusion-jumpn’ was more hurtful than helpful, but Mista Benzaiten was insist’ on talkn’ to you all private-like.”

Nureyev blinked at her, overwhelmed and still working his way through everything that was just said to him. “Thank you, Rita,” he said eventually, and she heaved a huge sigh.

“No, thank _you_ Mista Glass! It's been a long week and these boys are gonna be the death of me if they keep it up,” she vented, leaning back in her chair.

“We can’t be having that,” Nureyev said sympathetically, returning the bright smile she gave him. “It’s safe to assume that you did most of Juno’s digging into me, yes?”

“Yeah,” Rita replied with a frown. It looked strange on her face, like hers wasn’t built for scowling. “I know a thing or two.”

Nureyev chuckled, shaking his head as he said, “Rita, I’ve done my own research into this merry bunch, professionally speaking I mean. I know the extent of your skills. How much have you found?”

Rita’s frown became a pout at the question. “Nothn’. Mista Steel figures ‘Rex Glass’ is a brand spankn’ new alias, so there’s nothn’ tied to it. Even facial recognition comes up with nothn’. It’s very annoyn’.”

“And when did you figure this all out?” he pushed, and Rita laughed.

“Oh, like the day afta’ you started showin’ up here or somethin’ like that,” she replied and Nureyev felt a shock rocket through him. “Mista Steel’s had your numba’ figured out since he saw you at Hyperion Brewn’ or whateva’ they’re called.”

Nureyev opened his mouth to say something but shut it, stunned as he was that Juno would entertain him at all.

The door to the kitchen opened, and habit had Nureyev looking up. Ready as he was to be disappointed, he was actually startled to see Juno leaving the kitchen carrying a plate with a sandwich. He strode up to Nureyev’s table and put the plate down, his expression very serious.

But Nureyev could see uncertainty in the lines around Juno’s visible eye, and it was obvious he was chewing the inside of his cheek.

“Juno—” Nureyev began, but Juno shook his head sharply.

“On the house. Make sure to use your napkin,” Juno bit out before turning on his heel and heading back to the kitchen.

Curiously, Nureyev picked up the sandwich—the same sandwich he had ordered the first time he ate there— and looked at the napkin that sat beneath it. Through the layers, he could see there was something written and couldn’t help the little chuckle.

“Oh, how _mysterious_ , Mista Glass!” Rita cried excitedly. “Secret codes and hidden notes and all that stuff!”

Nureyev smiled indulgently at her and picked the napkin up to flip it open. Written inside were comms details, which he could only assume were Juno’s. A brief note, as curt and surly as the lady who wrote it, told Nureyev to call whenever he was able to talk freely.

“Not very mysterious, nor secret, if the whole cafe can hear you, dear Rita,” Nureyev said teasingly, tucking the napkin away to pick up the sandwich and start eating it.

“Oh! Right!” Rita said with a determined look. “Then I guess I better whispa’ then.”

“It’s best that we stop speaking of it entirely, actually,” Nureyev said with a laugh, making quick work of the sandwich before packing up his things to leave. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning, hopefully.”

“Of course, Mista Glass!” Rita replied with a smile so bright it was likely visible from orbit.

As Nureyev left the cafe, he entered Juno’s information into his comms and made the call. His stomach did somersaults as it beeped, waiting anxiously for Juno to answer.

 _“That was fast,”_ Juno answered, his tone flat but the tension was palpable.

“Would you prefer I call back later, dear detective?” Nureyev asked with a warm chuckle, and this earns him a snort of laughter.

 _“No, this is fine, just give me a second. I’m dealing with the oven,”_ he said, and Nureyev listened to Juno fiddle with and press several buttons, muttering calculations under his breath.

“Don’t you have an oven that does all of that _for_ you?” Nureyev eventually asked, which was responded to by adorable stammering.

 _“I prefer doing it myself,”_ Juno grumbled defensively. _“If it does the thinking for me, I’ll get lazy.”_

“I truly doubt you’ve ever been ‘lazy’ a day in your life, Juno,” Nureyev all but purred, and he smiled at the shaky breath that earned him.

 _“Well that shows how well you know me then,”_ Juno said firmly.

Nureyev laughed as he hailed a cab. “That’s what I’m trying to change, dear detective,” he said, hoping he was conveying his sincerity well enough over the comms.

 _“Stop that,”_ Juno bit out, but the tone was pleading.

“Stop what, darling?” Nureyev asked cheekily as he slid into the backseat of the cab, handing the driver a business card for the hotel.

_“Sucking up to me.”_

“I can assure you, Juno, that is not at all what I’m doing,” Nureyev reassured with a small chuckle, letting his voice drop an octave. “But I’m not _opposed_ to suck—”

 _“Nope, no, absolutely not,”_ Juno choked a bit. _“We’re not— you said you’re leaving soon, right?”_

Nureyev hummed his acknowledgement, his smile turning a bit sad.

 _“Will you tell me what all this is about?”_ Juno asked, his tone sceptical.

“That depends,” Nureyev replied cheekily, and Juno laughed.

 _“Okay, I’ll bite. It depends on what?”_ he asked, and Nureyev could hear the eye-roll.

Nureyev suddenly felt… something like worry and stress, knowing what came next. It was time to take the plunge and it was terrifying.

“Will you go to dinner with me, two nights from now?”

Juno scoffed. _“Like a date?”_ he asked, his tone mocking and bitter but there was an edge to it that Nureyev desperately wanted to be hope.

“Only if you want it to be, Juno,” he replied soothingly. “It can just be dinner, where we can get to know each other and I will… tell you everything after if you still want to know.”

Juno hesitated for a moment before he took a shaky breath. _“Do you want it to be a date?”_ Juno asked quietly.

“Yes,” he replied without hesitation, and he smiled softly at the little gasp Juno let out.

 _“Tomorrow, I’ll go to dinner with you,”_ Juno said after a few more moments.

“Tomorrow?” Nureyev asked, raising an eyebrow at the change in pace.

 _“That a problem, Glass?”_ Juno asked with a laugh. _“You said you’re running out of time.”_

Nureyev smiled, and said, “It’s not a problem at all. Thank you—”

 _“It’s not a date, by the way,”_ Juno suddenly said, defensive all over again.

“Of course not,” Nureyev agreed.

_“You’re still a criminal.”_

“Of course, so you say,” he laughed.

_“It’s my job to turn people like you in.”_

“Of course, Juno. I am aware.”

Juno let out a huff, sounding almost annoyed that Nureyev didn’t argue any of those points. _“Good,”_ he bit out, sighing quietly. _“Where are we going?”_

“Let me worry about that, dear detective,” Nureyev said soothingly. “I’ll pick you up around seven?”

 _“Yeah, okay,”_ Juno said.

“Excellent, I’ll pick you up from your apartment—”

 _“I’m not telling you where I live, Glass,”_ Juno all but snapped, and Nureyev chuckled.

“The cafe then?”

Juno grunted, and Nureyev took that as an agreement and smiled. 

_“What should I wear?”_ Juno asked.

“Something nice, I suppose,” Nureyev said as the cab pulled up to his hotel. “But I’m sure you’ll be radiant no matter—”

 _“I told you to stop sucking up to me,”_ Juno all but growled.

“And I told you that wasn’t what I was doing,” Nureyev sighed as he counted out some creds and handed them to the driver.

 _“Then what_ are _you doing, Glass?”_ he demanded, and he sounded so angry and doubtful.

The impulse was there to continue to tease and flirt with the testy detective, but Nureyev knew it was time for sincerity. It was the least he could offer, and the least that Juno deserved.

“I’m flirting with you because I find you to be incredibly clever, strong-willed and sharp,” he began, taking a deep breath. “You are also very pleasing to look at, and you make the best pastries and sandwiches I have ever had the pleasure of enjoying in my life. And—”

 _“Okay, Glass, I get it!”_ Juno shouted, and Nureyev laughed as he got out of his cab.

“Do you, Juno? Because I _could_ go on,” he teased.

Juno laughed at that, one of his beautiful rare ones that lifted Nureyev’s spirits like nothing else ever had. It was a strained laugh, still, but amused nonetheless.

 _“I bet you could,”_ Juno murmured, and the tone of his voice was so sweet Nureyev wished he could kiss him. _“I’m hanging up now, Glass.”_

“I will see you tomorrow, dear detective,” Nureyev said with a smile.

 _“I won’t talk to you when you’re at the cafe,”_ he warned.

“That’s fine. I’ll still be coming for my breakfast,” Nureyev replied.

 _“Whatever, knock yourself out,”_ Juno grumbled. _“I have actual work to do. Bye.”_

The comms beeped as Juno hung up and Nureyev couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face as he went to his room.

None of the traps in his room had been tripped, and after a cursory look for bugs and finding none, he sat down at the desk to work on removing any video evidence of himself from around the city. He knew the location of just about every camera in the city by then, having perfected this particular chore for over two weeks.

After that, he started compiling his plans, both in preparation for performing the heist, and also for it all to be organized for Juno to easily read. It was at that point that it properly dawned on Nureyev that the next evening, he would be spilling everything to Juno, and his gut squeezed at the thought.

Nureyev wanted to bolt, to go right then and complete the job and leave Mars forever. It would be the smart thing to do, the professional thing.

But he thought about Juno, waiting for Nureyev to pick him up, wearing that same sad expression he had when he was convinced Nureyev wanted Ben. He thought about how he would join the long line of disappointments who preceded him, and it made him sick to his stomach.

Juno deserved the truth, and what was more, Nureyev wanted him to know it.

* * *

The next morning, Nureyev sat at the cafe eating his breakfast and reading a book. He had no actual work to do anymore, and no longer had a reason to pretend that he did. The cafe was slower than usual, but Juno still managed to stay in the kitchen the whole time as he promised. If Juno ever peeked out through the kitchen door, Nureyev never caught him looking.

It was just before lunch, while Nureyev and Rita sat together watching one of her streams, when Benten arrived with Mick hot on his heels. Nureyev glanced up just in time to see Mick look right at him and frown. The expression was almost comical because, much like Rita, the man’s face was just simply not designed to hold a scowl.

Mick sat down, and grinned broadly at Rita’s delighted, “Hi, Mista Mercury!” 

“Good morning,” he said, turning back to Nureyev seriously. “So what are your intentions with my best bud?”

The question actually took Nureyev by surprise and he asked, “I beg your pardon?”

“He means Mista Steel, Mista Glass,” Rita sighed. “He calls Mista Steel his best friend, but I’m actually Mista Steel’s best friend—”

“You’re both wrong,” Benten called from the counter, where he was reading a magazine, not even looking up at them. “I’m his best friend by default.”

“Well,” Mick prompted, ignoring both of them. “What are your intentions with my best friend?”

Nureyev raised an eyebrow and chuckled. “That is certainly a loaded question, Mr Mercury,” he replied eventually.

Mick made a face, which Nureyev was positive was meant to look a lot like Juno’s deadpan stare, but it just looked silly on his goofy face.

“Are they pure?” Mick asked, the corners of his mouth twitching.

Nureyev let out an actual bark of laughter at that, delighting in the way that Benten’s head shot up to stare at them.

“Absolutely not,” he replied cheekily, his tone almost mockingly flirtatious, though the words did summon some fantasies that had heat pooling between his legs.

Mick’s face broke into a grin while Benten audibly gagged. “Hey! That’s great because my buddy Jay is a _catch_ and deserves to be treated like the queen he—”

“Mick!” Benten hissed. “Focus? Please?”

“Oh, right, yeah,” Mick said, visibly working to school his expression into something more serious and asked solemnly, “Do you like mushrooms?”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Benten muttered, dropping his head onto the counter with a heavy thunk.

“I don’t have much of an opinion on them, to be honest,” Nureyev replied, shrugging with one shoulder. “They aren’t something I particularly love, I suppose.”

Mick was grinning again, and Nureyev was baffled by him.

“Perfect! Cos Jay _hates_ them, like even the smell of them,” Mick said quickly. “There was this one time when I ate this whole mushroom and cheese pie thing, and JayJay _walked_ home because he couldn’t stand sitting in the cab with me all the way back—”

“Mick, c’mon!” Benten groaned, and Mick actually rolled his eyes and Nureyev was certain the man was properly annoyed.

“Okay man, Glass, whatever,” Mick said with an exaggerated sigh. “Do you like Juno?”

“Very much,” Nureyev said without a moment’s hesitation, which brought a smile to Mick’s face again.

“And you wouldn’t willingly put him in harm’s way?” he continued.

“Not if I could help it.”

“And you’re not blackmailing or forcing him to go out with you tonight?”

“Not at all.”

Mick narrowed his eyes at Nureyev for a minute, the silence between them dragging by, before he smiled and shrugged. “Good enough for me,” he said pleasantly.

“Seriously, Mick?” Benten asked sceptically and Mick nodded.

“Yup! Listen, JayJay can take care of himself, Ben. I’m not gonna go around deciding _for_ him what he can and cannot do,” Mick said, shrugging a bit at Rita’s annoyed huffing next to him.

“Did you even listen to anything I told you about what this guy does for a living?” Benten asked.

“Yeah, Ben, but I think Juno is the best equipped for that anyway. But, I mean,” Mick trailed off with a shrug, his face turning properly serious. “Whether I like him or not isn’t what matters, same with you and Rita. Jay makes his own choices, so I say we just get comfy with the lady’s decisions and be ready to clean up after things if we have to.”

Rita and Nureyev stared at Mick for a few long moments, before Rita said, “Wow, Mista Mercury! That was real smart! I mean, I’ve been saying the same stuff and tryn’ to get Mista Benzaiten to see it that way, too!”

The compliment caught Mick off-guard, and for a moment or two he rubbed the back of his neck bashfully. “Gee, thanks, Rita. Trying to protect Jay just makes him more reckless in my experience.”

“God, Mercury,” Benten said with a roll of his eyes. “You can pull that kind of wisdom out of your ass for Juno, but not yourself?”

“I’m doing fine,” Mick replied with a shrug.

“Mick, I literally _just_ saved you from a mugger,” Benten said flatly, to which Mick just laughed.

Nureyev checked his watch and sighed, his heart suddenly in his throat. “Well, I should head out,” he said with a small smile. “I have some work to do before my dinner with Juno.”

“Wait, you can’t just leave without lunch, Mista Glass! Lemme go grab you somethn’, on the house!” Rita said as she jumped up and hurried back behind the counter. She froze suddenly and pointed back at Nureyev with a fierce expression. “And you’re taking a bag, Mista Glass. Or else I’m never serving you anything ever again.”

Nureyev laughed at the threat, utterly confused by it, but not interested in questioning it or the cringes of Rita and Benten.

* * *

Nureyev fiddled with the cuffs of his blazer in the back seat of the cab before tugging at his gloves lightly. He was nervous about the upcoming evening, which meant he was nauseated and ready to stop the cab and flee. Though it felt cowardly, he couldn’t actually look when the cab turned the corner toward the cafe, knowing it would be in view.

The fear and anxiety seized his chest, and the urge to disappear rose up like bile in his throat all over again. But he knew disappearing was not possible, and chose instead to flat out ignore their destination until he absolutely had to face it.

The car stopped and Nureyev only had a few seconds to attempt to collect himself before the door opened and someone slid in next to him. Taking a deep breath, Nureyev turned to face Juno and was immediately winded by the vision that sat across the bench from him. It was a good thing he hadn’t looked ahead, because he was certain that he _would_ have actually bolted if he had.

Juno was dressed _very well_ for a dinner he insisted was not a date, wearing a yellow gown with off-the-shoulder sleeves and a belt cinched tight around his waist. Notably, there was a dramatic slit up the length of the skirt, exposing Juno’s entire left leg to Nureyev’s greedy gaze, showing off the lace boots he wore as well as a tangle of flower embroidery on his hip.

After a few moments of gawking, Nureyev met Juno’s gaze, taking in the dark lipstick, the dramatic smokey eye shadow and the crisp black eyepatch. As he stared, Nureyev realized that the detective’s cheekbones, jawline, and collarbones shimmered with gold highlights, and he was desperate to mess it up with his tongue.

Simply put, Juno was breathtaking. He was also incredibly tense.

Juno was watching Nureyev’s face, and had begun to mess with the hem of his dress. “What?” Juno finally asked defensively, biting the inside of his cheek.

“You’re stunning, Juno,” Nureyev breathed, and he couldn’t even find it in himself to feel embarrassed at how easily he was affected by Juno. When Juno dipped his head and smiled softly at the compliment, Nureyev felt like he was in free-fall for a moment.

“Thanks, you…” Juno trailed off, shaking his head. “You look good. Too, I mean. You look good, too.”

The ride most of the way to the restaurant was quiet, though not uncomfortable. At least, the quiet wasn’t. Nureyev, however, found himself utterly distracted by Juno’s bare leg, wholly visible from his hip to his ankle. Nureyev wanted to reach across the bench and touch, to feel Juno’s warm skin through his leather glove, to take _off_ his glove and feel the softness of that thigh under his fingers and squeeze the meat of it.

Several times over the course of the short cab ride, Nureyev had to look out the window to catch his breath and school his thoughts to something less needy. His body was reacting to his thoughts, and it would be incredibly humiliating to soak through his pants before they even reached the restaurant.

“Hey,” the cab driver suddenly said, his voice stern. “I’m not gonna stop you or watch, but it’s a 300 cred cleaning fee if you mess up the upholstery.”

Juno choked as Nureyev’s eyes snapped up to meet the man’s gaze in the rearview mirror. Juno stammered for a bit, saying, “Wh-what!? N-no it’s not— we’re not— there isn’t— what?”

The cab driver just rolled his eyes. “Whatever, just letting you know,” he muttered.

When they arrived at the restaurant, Juno stared out the window and made a noise in the back of his throat. Nureyev couldn’t tell if it was a sound of amusement or something else and that made him even more nervous.

“I said this wasn’t a date,” Juno said flatly, glaring over his shoulder at Nureyev. The cab driver snorted at that, and Juno turned a glower at full heat on him.

“I am aware, dear detective,” Nureyev replied.

When Juno looked at him again, there was something intense in his expression, his visible eye narrowed at him. “Then why did you bring me to _the place_ in Hyperion City for dumb saps to propose?”

Nureyev was tempted to feign ignorance, but this whole endeavour was about being up front and honest with Juno. Lying, especially over something like choosing a romantic venue for a night he wished to be just so, seemed stupid.

“It’s still not a date, as long as you don’t want it to be, Juno,” he replied finally. “I also wanted to make it clear exactly where my interest in you lies.”

Juno bit the inside of his cheek, mulling over Nureyev’s words before nodding. With another firm look, Juno said, “Still not a date.”

Nureyev smiled broadly. “Of course, dear.”

Juno seemed distracted for a moment, his gaze glancing down and locking onto Nureyev’s mouth. Clearing his throat loudly, the detective shook his head and opened his door, slipping out. Nureyev watched him, particularly interested when the movement shifted the dress to show off even more leg as well as a hint of his ass. At that, Nureyev had to take a deep breath to calm himself and was interrupted by the cab driver demanding to be paid.

Juno was waiting for him when he got out of the car, staring up at the restaurant with some trepidation.

“Everything alright, Juno?” Nureyev asked, standing at full height and straightening his blazer.

“This place is expensive, Glass,” Juno complained, but there was something in his tone that Nureyev couldn’t quite place.

“Have you been?” Nureyev asked cautiously, and immediately felt some regret when Juno’s expression darkened a bit.

“Yeah, a long time ago,” he replied with a sigh.

“Well,” Nureyev hummed and offered his elbow to Juno, grinning toothily when Juno accepted it without question. “All of my expenses are paid.”

Juno snorted, allowing himself to be led up the stairs and through the doors. “You’re going to expense a date?”

“Of course not, detective, that would be incredibly unprofessional!” Nureyev said with a scandalized gasp. “Thankfully, as you keep insisting, this _isn’t_ a date.”

Juno looked away pointedly, chewing the inside of his cheek at realizing his slip-up. The urge to spin Juno where he stood and kiss the breath from his lungs was strong, and Nureyev was almost embarrassed by how badly he wanted it.

When they reached the Maitre d’, Nureyev said, “Reservation for Duke and Dahlia Rose.”

Nureyev smiled pleasantly, even as Juno snorted rudely at hearing the aliases, and tugged him along behind the Maitre d’ as she guided them through the dining room.

“Dahlia Rose? Really?” Juno asked with another laugh. “The hell kind of name is that?”

“I’ve used Duke Rose before, years ago, and I figured you might want an alias, too,” Nureyev teased with a wink down at Juno. “‘Dahlia’ was the best I could do on such short notice. Not all names can be as pretty as ‘Juno’, dear.”

“Isn’t it, I don’t know, a bit obvious that it’s not a real name?” Juno asked, and Nureyev smiled indulgently down at him but did not answer right away.

Nureyev took a moment to look around the dining room, noting the number of occupants, potential exits, and possible threats. Once he was finished casing the room, he paid attention to the actual people and with some amusement, he realized that several patrons had stopped to stare at Juno as he glided past their tables, eyes locked on his bare leg and the flowers at his hip.

Once they arrived at their table and were left alone, Nureyev cleared his throat to say, “Our names would only be ‘obvious’ aliases to incredibly clever private eyes, I would think.”

Juno looked away, seemingly startled by the praise, but he was smiling. The reaction of some nearby patrons at Juno’s demure display was completely understandable to Nureyev.

“You’re sucking up again,” Juno accused.

“I’m complimenting you, Juno,” Nureyev said as a server approached their table and quickly ordered them a bottle of wine.

“It’s the same difference,” Juno said flatly, chewing the inside of his cheek.

“Hardly. ‘Sucking up’ as you call it implies some deception, as if part of what I was saying was a lie,” Nureyev began, pausing only long enough to sample the wine their server brought back and approve it to be served. He smiled at Juno’s frown over the rim of his wine glass. “Now, when I say that you are an absolute vision, the most gorgeous and clever lady I have ever had the pleasure of knowing? I am not stretching anything, lying, or teasing. I mean my words completely.”

“Whatever, Glass,” Juno muttered, obviously embarrassed but also somewhat pleased.

They lapsed into silence for a few minutes as they contemplated their menus.

“Ugh, I hate this,” Juno grumbled eventually, dropping his menu back on the table. “Just order me something. My eye’s too tired to read the fancy font. Nothing with mushrooms, though”

“Of course, dear,” Nureyev laughed. When the server returned, he ordered their food and turned his attention back to Juno.

The detective was lounging back in his chair, one arm crossed over his waist while the other held his wine glass just below his nose as he watched Nureyev.

“What’s on your mind?” Nureyev prompted and Juno just shrugged.

“This really seems like your whole… thing,” he replied, though his tone seemed to imply otherwise.

Nureyev couldn’t help the chuckle that bubbled up. “Does it?”

Juno’s eye narrowed a bit, though his expression was kept pointedly disinterested. “You _seem_ born to it,” he finally said and Nureyev smirked.

“Do you think so?” he prompted.

Something shifted in Juno’s gaze, where it seemed even sharper than Nureyev had ever seen it, and then he shook his head a bit. “No. Rich people are white-collar through and through, even when they’re being shady,” Juno finally answered, his tone firm and sure, and Nureyev felt a shiver roll through him. “They rarely risk getting their own hands dirty if they can help it.”

“Good work, detective!” Nureyev praised, hunger settling in his gut when Juno looked away with a shy smile again. “I knew you were very clever.”

“It’s not that hard to figure out,” Juno attempted to deflect.

“Ah, but it is,” Nureyev disagreed. “You’re the first person I’ve known who guessed correctly as you have.”

“Okay, so you weren’t born to it,” Juno pressed, and Nureyev could tell he was trying to move the conversation _away_ from praising him.

“It’s all learned, you are correct. Not necessarily an _act_ , per se, but I had to learn it for the job,” he replied with a smile, allowing it to become something a bit sharper as he said, “Much of my work involves schmoozing with the elite.”

Juno’s gaze locked onto his mouth again, his visible eye traveling along his teeth and he chewed the inside of his cheek.

“So, how did… you grow up to become Rex Glass,” Juno eventually asked, looking into his wine glass for a moment.

Nureyev debated responding, instinctively retreating inward as he was wont to do. But that was counterproductive to what he was hoping to achieve that evening with his beautiful dinner partner.

“I lived on the streets for much of my childhood, until I was taken in by a mentor. I don’t remember much of my life before that,” Nureyev replied, savouring his wine while Juno mulled over his words. “What about you?”

Juno snorted and rolled his eye a bit. “Ma used to work for Northstar Entertainment. Lost her job, and then things were hard,” Juno said with a shrug. “I’m sure you’ve already looked all that up.”

“Not at all,” Nureyev replied with a shake of his head. “I looked up the information the HCPD had on you once, but nothing personal.”

Juno looked completely baffled by his confession. “Why not?”

Nureyev had no good answer for Juno, and had to forcibly keep himself from answering with something witty and useless. “I’m not even sure, Juno. Normally, I would have, but I hesitated with you,” Nureyev said slowly, shrugging. “I wanted to hear what stories you have in your own words, I suppose. Perhaps it’s because I saw you before I knew even the first thing about you. I don’t know.”

“What _do_ you know about me then?” Juno asked curiously.

“You’re a sharpshooter, and a damn good one—”

“Haven’t been a sharpshooter in five years, Glass—”

“No, no, do not interrupt,” Nureyev scolded, and Juno’s mouth snapped shut. “You can’t go from your level of talent to nothing, Juno. I know you’ve been going to shooting ranges weekly, according to Rita.”

“Doesn’t make me a sharpshooter,” Juno grumbled and Nureyev decided he didn’t want to argue with him.

“Regardless, I know you left the HCPD, and that there were some disciplinary notes, but I didn’t read them,” he reassured. “They weren’t relevant.”

Juno hummed, studying his face and seemed to decide, ultimately, that Nureyev was being truthful. “Huh, interesting. So this is honestly a chance to get to know each other?”

Nureyev nodded and laughed. “I have been saying that this whole time, but yes.”

Juno smirked, or at least tried for a smirk but it really was just a small, happy smile. “Oh,” was all he managed to say for a while, waiting patiently as the waiter brought a basket of bread to the table.

“I’m curious,” Nureyev began slowly. “What have you figured out about me?”

“Not much,” Juno replied with a petulant pout. “I’m guessing you’re Brahmese, but that’s not too difficult if you know what you’re looking for.”

Nureyev raised an eyebrow. “And did you? Know what to look for, I mean?”

“No,” Juno admitted bitterly. “Thought your teeth could be used as an identifier, but turns out most of the people on Brahma share your general description.”

They were silent for a few moments, Nureyev mulling over Juno’s words, and Juno thinking about something impossible for Nureyev to parse out at all.

“Did you live up on New Kinshasa, or…?” Juno asked, his tone careful as he asked.

“No one is homeless on New Kinshasa,” Nureyev replied simply, aiming to leave it at that when he realized it wasn’t much of an answer. “I lived on the surface. My family… they either left or died, but I have no memory of them.”

Juno nodded and tore at his bread thoughtfully. “I’m… sorry?” he said eventually, and Nureyev smiled at the stilted attempt at sympathy.

“It’s the past, dear detective,” Nureyev waved it off. “My mentor took me in when I was quite young, and taught me everything I know.”

With another nod, and perhaps sensing there was no good way to elaborate on his mentor in public, Juno said, “My mom wasn’t that great. Ben wouldn’t want me saying it, but she was… she was terrible. I don’t know why he still defends her, but whatever.”

“Perhaps he knew a different side of her?” Nureyev supplied and Juno snorted.

“Yeah, he knew a different side of her, for sure,” Juno said sarcastically, rolling his eye. “She lost her job at Northstar when we were, like, four and she blamed me ever since.”

“Where is she now?” Nureyev asked.

“Dead. She went to Hoosegow after she tried to kill Ben—”

Nureyev dropped his bread knife, which startled Juno mid-sentence. “Excuse me?” he asked, sure he had misheard.

“She went to Hoosegow—”

“No, I caught that part, Juno,” Nureyev said with a weak laugh. “She tried to kill Benzaiten?”

Juno paused a moment before he nodded. “She thought he was me.”

Nureyev blinked at him for several moments before he said, “See, you keep saying things as if they’re supposed to make sense, but they don’t, Juno.”

“She hated me and wanted me dead, got Ben confused for me and had really shitty aim,” Juno explained in a frustrated huff. “She went to Hoosegow and then died a couple years later. There’s really not that much to it, Glass.”

Nureyev wanted to ask more questions, but Juno was visibly tense, his expression tight. Asking more would only spoil the rest of the evening and Nureyev couldn’t have that.

“Tell me about Mick,” he said instead, and immediately the dark clouds around Juno parted. “How does he fit in with Juno Steel?”

The rest of their evening went on like that, with them discussing the lighter parts of their lives and telling stories that had each other laughing out loud. 

They had finished their dinner and were working on their second bottle of wine as Nureyev began waxing poetic about other planets. He had been spurred on by the mystified way Juno stared at him over the rim of his wine glass, his deep blue eye catching the candlelight in an almost magical way.

“Wow, sounds amazing out there,” Juno murmured as Nureyev finished describing Neptune.

Nureyev hummed. “It is,” he said softly.

“Have you ever thought about… settling down?” Juno asked after a moment, chewing the inside of his cheek. “I mean, stopping for a while?”

Nureyev thought he could see a glimmer of hope in the detective’s eye, one that the lady was obviously trying to hide or stamp out. For a moment, Nureyev wanted to lie, had it prepared on the tip of his tongue even, to keep that hope alive and see him smile. But Juno Steel would always prefer a hard truth over a pretty lie, which was something Nureyev found that he liked quite a lot.

“No, not at all,” Nureyev said gently. “Settling down for people in my line of work… usually doesn’t involve surviving to retire.”

Juno nodded at that, and Nureyev saw something shift in his expression, but it was so slight that he could not even begin to figure it out. Just then, their desserts arrived and Nureyev started in on his experiences on Venus.

Across from him, Juno shifted in his seat to cross his legs as he leaned forward to eat his dessert. Nureyev barely refrained from jumping when Juno’s foot trailed up the inside of his leg, stopping to rest against his chair between his knees. Nureyev looked up at Juno questioningly, but the look Juno offered him was the picture of innocence.

It wasn’t until Juno’s foot nudged his knee deliberately that Nureyev realized he had stopped talking entirely. Clearing his throat, he continued his story with a shaky voice. When Juno took a moment to lick his spoon just a bit too deliberately with entirely too much bedroom eye, Nureyev’s words stuttered to a halt once again.

“What?” Juno asked cheekily, and Nureyev stared at a spot of cream left at the corner of his mouth.

“You— you’ve got a bit of cream,” Nureyev begins, pointing at the corner of his own mouth.

Juno chuckled softly, as if he was truly embarrassed by such a thing, and wiped his fingertips through the mess before slipping them into his mouth. It was a simple enough gesture, and not even particularly suggestive on it’s own, until Juno’s blue eye flickered up to meet his. The heat in that gaze was intense, and Nureyev could feel the space between his thighs grow hot and damp.

Then Juno hollowed his cheeks as he pulled his fingers out of his mouth with a soft, yet perfectly audible _pop_.

As Nureyev dropped his spoon onto his plate with a disruptive clatter, a patron at a nearby table dropped something small which made a tinkling noise as it hit the floor. Clearing his throat forcefully, Nureyev picked up his spoon and resumed his story without looking at the scheming temptress across from him, instead watching the other patron frantically scoop what looked like an engagement ring up off the floor. With some amusement, if only to make himself feel better about being far too wet for not even being touched yet, he observed that both the patron aiming to propose and their partner were distracted by Juno.

Juno moved his foot again, slipping it further up Nureyev’s inner thigh, rocking up and down until Nureyev met his gaze again. The brat had an eyebrow raised with the spoon held between his lips, and his expression was molten.

With some alarm, Nureyev considered that he was being tested, that it was some sort of trap. A test was much more Benzaiten’s style, however— he couldn’t imagine Juno pulling the same sort of petty nonsense.

Nureyev knocked back the last of his wine and cleared his throat. “Would you like another bottle of wine, Juno?” he asked, his voice thick as he lounged back in his chair, allowing his blazer to fall open. Immediately, Juno’s gaze gravitated to his torso, tracing where Nureyev’s corset cut off just below his chest. Beneath the corset was just a lace shirt, completely see-through except for two notably solid patches of flowers.

Juno eventually hummed, clearing his throat and scooping up the last bit of his dessert with a shake of his head. “I don’t think so. We still have something to discuss,” he said before smirking suggestively. “ _In private_.”

“Ah, of course,” Nureyev said a bit shakily, swallowing thickly. “We could go back to your apartment? If you would like?”

Juno bit his lip and cast his eye downward, a mockery of shy nerves. “I was thinking we should go to your hotel room? It’ll be quiet, empty… private,” Juno said demurely, shrugging a bare shoulder that all but demanded Nureyev’s teeth to mark it up.

Nureyev watched Juno’s face, trying to gauge how much of what he was saying was innuendo, and said, “Of course. We can discuss things at my hotel as long and loud as we please,” he said slowly, smiling to expose his sharp teeth a bit. “We could get quite heated and not disturb a single person.”

“Sounds good to me,” Juno said, and his voice was strained suddenly, as if he hadn’t counted on Nureyev rising to his bait.

Nureyev made quick work of settling their bill, hardly even looking at the amount before he stood and offered his elbow to Juno. When the detective accepted, he tucked himself much closer to Nureyev’s side, the heat of him warming through the layer of his blazer.

Sliding into the backseat of the first available cab, Nureyev was startled when Juno sat on the bench directly beside him. Looking down, Nureyev swallowed hard as Juno’s bare thigh pressed along his leg, and he shivered when the detective’s shoulder leaned into his side while he smoothed his dress down properly.

Very conscious of the placement of his hands, Nureyev kept them clasped together in his lap as he stared resolutely out the window. However, the scheming lady next to him was determined to make any attempt at professionalism impossible, what with the way he kept shifting his leg against Nureyev’s.

The short cab ride to the hotel was already shaping up to feel like an eternity.

“So, is there a plan when we get to the hotel?”

Nureyev tilted his head just so to look down at Juno, knocked nearly breathless all over again by the gorgeous lady looking up at him. But he schooled his expression, smirking just enough to flash some of his teeth, and Nureyev did not miss the way Juno looked at his mouth, or the way Juno’s own mouth fell open with a nearly silent gasp.

“What do you mean by that, Juno?” Nureyev prompted, saying his name with a suggestive drawl and raising an eyebrow.

He did not miss the way Juno shivered when he said his name.

Juno leaned closer to him, the glorious heat of his soft body flush against his side. “You have a way in where we won’t be seen?” he pressed, his voice low.

Nureyev chuckled and leaned into Juno’s space, putting his gloved hand down on Juno’s thigh near where it met his hip As he leaned even harder against Juno, he slid his long leather-clad fingers down between Juno’s thighs, the head of the lady’s cock mere inches away.

Juno shuddered, tipping his head when Nureyev bent low to brush his lips against the shell of his ear. With a toothy smirk, Nureyev squeezed the meat of Juno’s thigh until he gasped.

“We won’t be sneaking past any cameras, my dear detective,” he explained in a whisper, luxuriating in the gasps and shudders of his beautiful lady. “We will walk in together, keeping everything professional, of course.”

“Professional?” Juno bit out, his voice breathy and dripping with tension.

“Of course, and it should be easy enough,” Nureyev teased, his lips brushing Juno’s ear and for a moment he nearly bites it. “This isn’t a date after all.”

Juno nodded jerkily with a hard swallow, and heat absolutely radiated off of Juno’s face.

Nureyev chuckled, flicking his tongue out to wet his lips, which in turn caught the shell of Juno’s ear. Relishing Juno’s shudder, Nureyev squeezed the thigh in his hand tight enough to bruise, holding firm until Juno let out a soft sound. It was just a quiet vocalization on the tail-end of his sharp exhale, and Nureyev wanted more of it. He suddenly wished that he wasn’t wearing his gloves, wanting so desperately to feel the detective’s soft skin under his fingertips.

“I will erase any footage of us together when we go up to our room,” Nureyev murmured, inwardly flinching at calling it _their_ room, a slip-up he had never made before in his career as a thief. Juno at least did not seem to notice his poor word choice, his head tilted to the side, visible eye fluttering as Nureyev massaged his thigh. It was then that he realized that Juno had wrapped one of his hands around Nureyev’s wrist, holding tightly, but not trying to pull his hand away.

Before he pulled back, Nureyev took a moment longer to press his nose and mouth to the side of Juno’s head, just above his ear. Breathing in the scent of coconut and something else, he let out a soft groan only for Juno to hear. Finally, he released Juno, withdrawing his hand with a teasing slide of his fingertips against his sensitive inner-thigh. At Juno’s twitch and gentle gasp, Nureyev found himself very interested indeed to find out just how responsive his beautiful lady truly was.

Sitting back, Nureyev looked at Juno again and immediately regretted every action he made leading up to that very moment.

Juno’s gaze was molten, his lips parted and his visible eye heavy-lidded. There was a very alarming moment when Nureyev wanted to grab the private eye and kiss the breath from him, to press him back against their seat and swallow every gasp, moan, and pleading word his detective might utter.

Pulling on the reins of his self-control, Nureyev sucked a deep breath in through his nose and turned his attention straight ahead. Next to him, he could hear Juno taking a few deep breaths himself before he settled finally. The tension in the backseat was palpable, and every time Nureyev met the cab driver’s eyes in the rearview mirror, she looked completely unimpressed.

When they arrived at the hotel, Nureyev was still paying the driver when the doorman opened Juno’s door to assist him out of the vehicle.

“Ah, Mr Glass! Welcome back to the Hyperion Hotel!” the doorman said exuberantly as Nureyev stepped out behind Juno. “Would you and your companion enjoy a bottle of champagne this evening?”

“Thank you kindly, Washburn, but this is merely business,” Nureyev said with a pleasant smile, and he did not miss the sceptical tilt of the doorman’s eyebrows at his claim.

“Of course, Mr Glass,” Washburn said with a knowing wink. “Enjoy the rest of your evening.”

With that, Nureyev and Juno entered the opulent lobby with at least a foot between them. Nureyev nodded politely to the associates behind the front desk as they all greeted him by name as well, and Juno made a noise in the back of his throat.

“It’s not, you know, weird that they all know your name?” Juno asked quietly.

“Not at all, my dear Juno,” Nureyev replied with an indulgent smile. “In a place like this, it’s industry standard for all employees to know any guest staying longer than two nights by name.”

“Sounds pretty risky,” Juno murmured and Nureyev laughed a bit.

“This is why I usually stay at little dives if I intend to spend more than a day in one place,” Nureyev agreed. “Employees at places like that are barely paid enough to show up to their shifts, and if you tip them nicely they’ll lie to Dark Matters for you if they have to.”

“Speaking from experience?” Juno said with a snort as they reached the elevators.

“Perhaps,” Nureyev teased with a sly smile, guiding Juno into the elevator when it arrived.

It felt as though the elevator was crawling up the floors after that, and Nureyev let out a sigh. “There are only three cameras on my floor, all of which are situated at the elevator bay,” Nureyev began, his voice low and serious. “One will be facing us when we exit the elevator, so you will have to keep your face low without actually looking as though you are hiding it.”

“Sounds easy enough,” Juno replied, and there wasn’t even an ounce of sarcasm in his tone. “The other two cameras?”

“They face down the two wings. Once we turn down the hall to my room, it will be behind us so it should be a simple thing with minimal risk,” Nureyev answered, and felt something shift in his chest at the curt nod Juno gave him.

“Got it,” Juno murmured, shrugging.

Nureyev was genuinely impressed by how quickly Juno was able to follow his lead as they stepped out of the elevator, keeping his head down by taking his comms out of his bag to fiddle like he was getting ready to call someone. His focus was remarkable, and Nureyev witnessed the exact moment when Juno relaxed again. He hadn’t even realized just how serious Juno _had_ been until they turned the corner and had their backs to the camera.

Gone was the intense look and stony silence, and in its place was the simmering heat from the backseat of the cab again. Their gazes met once and Nureyev was nearly overwhelmed with the desire to pin the detective against the wall and have his wicked way with him right there. When they arrived at Nureyev’s room, Juno leaned against the doorjamb and smiled up at him in such a broad, open way that something ached terribly deep in Nureyev’s chest.

Nureyev was going to insist they talk once they stepped inside, he decided. He wanted the air to be clear between them, to make sure Juno went into anything they might do that evening fully informed. Juno knew he was a criminal, yes, but there was so much more to his job on Mars, things that were directly related to Juno. Nureyev knew he couldn’t move forward with that hanging over and between them.

The lock on the door chimed as it released, and Nureyev pushed the door open. Standing with his back against it to hold it open for Juno, he gestured grandly for the detective to enter. The smile on Juno’s face as he stepped into the darkened entryway from the hall was mischievous, and Nureyev narrowed his eyes a bit in suspicion when Juno did not continue into the suite.

There was no way Nureyev would have predicted what Juno had planned.

Hands grabbed the back of his head and pulled him down, his sharp gasp of surprise swallowed in a hot mouth and smothered by plump lips made sticky with lipstain. Nureyev was a weak man, however, and returned the hard kiss by meeting Juno’s tongue halfway, shivering as Juno pressed his perfect, soft body flush to his. 

He was effectively pinned against the door he was holding open, and he didn’t want to be anywhere else in the galaxy. Juno was making delicious little sounds against his tongue as he hitched his bare leg up, seemingly to wrap it around Nureyev’s waist, but their difference in height was too much. With a low growl, Nureyev grabbed Juno’s supple ass with both hands and hauled him up until the detective could find purchase with his legs around his thin waist and his arms draped over his shoulders.

All thoughts of talking things out with Juno first had swiftly flown from Nureyev’s mind, every coherent thought he might have had fled. He realized with some very distant alarm that they had somehow made it all the way through the suite and into the bedroom, as he found himself seated on the bed with Juno squirming in his lap. The detective was whining into his mouth, one of his hands tangled in his loose hair; Nureyev didn’t even recall taking the tie out of it and undoing the braid, which was almost concerning enough to snap him out of his lust-driven haze. Juno’s other hand was on his chest, groping one of his tits and flicking his thumb across the nipple.

Nureyev wasn’t very sensitive there, but he also wasn’t about to deny having Juno’s hands on him.

But Nureyev’s own hands were frantic as well, his desire to touch and hold every part of Juno taking over now that he could. One hand was on Juno’s thigh following the straps that wrapped his leg snugly while the other clung to the golden fabric of the gown at his hip. Nureyev slipped his gloved fingers beneath the straps to squeeze Juno’s soft thigh, and rested his thumb teasingly near the base of a very prominent erection. When Juno shivered, Nureyev pressed into the sensitive spot with a possessive growl, pulling a needy sob from Juno and swallowing it greedily.

Nureyev groaned at how responsive his private eye was and licked deeper and harder into his perfect mouth.

Juno tugged at his corset, fumbling with the clasps as he whispered against his mouth, “Fuck, Glass, been wanting this off you since the moment I saw you in it.”

Hearing his alias jolted Nureyev out of his lustful haze once and for all, and he was struck with the need to tell Juno _immediately_. He couldn’t allow it to go any further so long as Juno knew him as Rex Glass.

Nureyev turned his head away from Juno’s lips and shivered as the detective only moved his lips to his throat, mouthing, biting, and sucking at the pale skin. “Juno, we still need to talk,” he gasped, moaning and squeezing Juno’s thighs.

“Then you talk, I’ll finish undressing us,” Juno murmured cheekily, and Nureyev could feel his smirk. “Multitasking, yeah?”

“Juno,” Nureyev moaned, lifting his hands to grab Juno’s wrists and pull his hands away from his clothes.

When Juno made a petulant sound against his pulse, Nureyev’s willpower wavered dangerously. What harm could it do, waiting until his desire was sated and he’d had the lady who haunted his waking thoughts?

Then Juno groaned, “C’mon, Rex, we can talk later.” His tone had been teasing, pleading but not demanding, but it felt like a blow to Nureyev’s gut.

That had been the first time Juno had called him ‘Rex’, and he felt sick to his stomach at the thought of continuing. There was an alarming moment where his thoughts swirled around the disgust in himself for letting it progress this far so quickly, and then the fear that came with the intensity of his feelings.

‘Rex Glass’ was a fake name, a fake person, while Juno was so real and beautiful. Nureyev wanted— no, _needed_ Juno to know his name, his purpose for being on Mars. He needed Juno to _know_ him, even if he chose in the end to cast Nureyev aside. He knew, roughly, what it meant for Juno to be in his lap, pulling at his clothes and begging so prettily for more.

He didn’t want to fuck Juno while only offering less than half of himself when the detective was giving everything in return. He didn’t want to fuck Juno as Rex glass, he thought with a soft cry when Juno bit his neck again.

With a gasp of utter terror, he realized he wanted to make love to Juno Steel as Peter Nureyev, more than anything else in the galaxy.

The detective was still working bruises into the skin of his long throat when Nureyev turned his head to whisper, directly into Juno’s ear, “Nureyev.”

Juno froze, and Nureyev screwed his eyes tightly shut.

“My name is Peter Nureyev.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a loser who makes collages/inspo boards when I'm procrastinating writing, so here is the inspo collages for [Juno's Not Date attire](https://64.media.tumblr.com/3c5f950478b9828dc0d20984d347a1b3/e8ffa8fcc74e9386-8b/s640x960/f01a977a6f993a73034baa5964b673f8dc5cb7c6.png) and [Nureyev's Not Date attire](https://64.media.tumblr.com/33ddcf84abe05eabf0322b5cea138aeb/e8ffa8fcc74e9386-0c/s500x750/61b152e348d5dd93876d43d161e50625b6eb3f00.png).
> 
> Also that last line is what sent the gc into a whole tizzy and what turned this fic into [ _*gestures vaguely*_ ] this.


	4. we lie beneath the stars at night [E]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An argument, an impulse, and a fall...  
>  _ **[Posted early ON PURPOSE this time]**_  
>  _(mind the new tags, and **the smut is skippable**!)_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Some Important Notes:**
> 
>   * The smut is **completely skippable**! As in, when you reach the smut, there will be a link saying "click to skip smut" or something like that, and it will instantly take you down past all of the smut, starting you up immediately following it! **There is nothing in the smutty parts that is plot heavy** , so you aren't "missing" anything that isn't covered in the PG-13 parts.
>   * Nureyev is a **gender euphoric trans man** who has **not had top-surgery** and does **not wear a binder**. I use a mix of **masculine and feminine** terminology for his anatomy and genitalia, as I do for my own body as a transmasc individual. I use the following words for his body: tit(s), cunt, and dick. The strap is referred to as his cock. If this makes you uncomfortable, that is totally understandable, and I recommend skipping the smut.
>   * This chapter is being posted early mostly because Chapters 3 and 4 were originally one whole chapter, which I split in half because of length. So consider this a bit of an Angel of Brahma style release. ;p
>   * **I am altering my update schedule for the last time!** Chapter 5 will be released Wednesday, Oct. 28, Chapter 6 will be released Sunday, Nov 1, and Chapter 7 will be released Wednesday, Nov 4.
>   * I'm working on a two-chapter Epilogue ficlet, which I hope to publish on Sunday, Nov 8, so keep an eye out for that.
> 

> 
> Skip to smut on rereads, bc I know how some of y'all be ;3c

* * *

_**[JUNO]** _

“My name is Peter Nureyev.”

Juno took in a shaky breath, trying to still his thoughts, which were suddenly racing with this new information.

“... What?” he asked quietly after a few moments, and immediately cringed at the stupid question. Juno knew Rex wasn’t his real name, he knew it all along so this wasn’t a revelation on its own.

Or at least it shouldn’t have been. At some point over their evening together, he had stopped thinking of ‘Rex Glass’ as a fake name, and this knocked Juno off balance.

But he could handle it, had _demanded_ that information even. If Juno was a bit terrified to look at him though, he didn’t have to admit it.

“My name is Peter Nureyev,” the man underneath him repeated as he took a deep breath. “I’m a thief, and a very good one at that.”

Juno pulled back to look at Peter Nureyev, narrowing his eye at the stoic and hard expression the man wore. The corners of Nureyev’s mouth were tight and angled downward and Juno desperately wanted to kiss that stress away.

“I was hired,” Nureyev continued stiffly, the words sounding dragged out of him, “by a gentleman to regain some property that was taken.”

Ice filled Juno’s veins as he stared at Nureyev, something in his tone tickling the back of his mind. Why would a master thief be interested in him and look so tense as he confessed, he wondered. The answer came to him and felt like someone had punched him in the gut; he was Juno Steel, the one private eye in Hyperion City with a high-profile, nearly botched job on his record.

Humiliation burned in Juno’s gut and his face, and his mind began racing around how he was going to get out of Nureyev’s lap without looking like he was running away.

“Why does he need a thief.” He hadn’t even realized he was talking until the words were hanging in the air between them. It wasn’t a question as much as it was a statement, and the way Nureyev’s expression folded, his lips curving downward and his eyes softening at the corners, was all the confirmation Juno needed.

But he had to hear him say it. He _had_ to hear the words come from Nureyev.

“No, finish that thought. I want to hear you say it.”

“Juno—”

“Just fucking  say it, Diamond!”

Nureyev’s hands twitched where he still held Juno’s wrists, bringing Juno back from his swirling thoughts.

“Juno—” the thief began, and Juno could hear the excuses in his tone already.

“Why does he need a _thief_ , Nureyev? Why didn’t he hire a _detective_?” Juno demanded, and he can feel himself shaking as well.

“Juno, I want you to know—”

“Just tell me, _Nureyev_!” Juno hissed through his teeth, and to his dismay tears had sprung to his eyes.

Nureyev licked his lips a bit nervously, and said, “His property was taken by the HCPD in a raid on an associate’s safehouse five years ago.”

Juno had begun laughing bitterly the moment Nureyev had mentioned the HCPD. A hollow, desperate ache settled in his chest, his eyes stinging from the pain. It was stupid to feel so hurt, but it was just the sort of prank whatever higher beings existed would play on him.

“Of _fucking_ course,” Juno bit out, looking up at the ceiling. It was always too good to be true, he knew the other shoe would drop eventually, _knew_ there was no reason someone as gorgeous and mysterious as Nureyev would even look twice at him if they didn’t have ulterior motives.

“That’s why you’re here. I knew it the moment I saw you at Hyperion Brewing, but I talked myself out of it. But that’s why you’re _here_ ,” Juno finally admitted to himself with a scoff, getting increasingly angry at himself for being so goddamn stupid. “You really know how to pick ‘em, Steel.”

“That isn’t why I’m here _right now_ , nor why I’ve been seeing you,” Nureyev insisted, his voice pleading as Juno began to pull back. He let go of Juno’s wrists to gently hold his face. “Juno, _please_ , believe that this is real—”

“Get your goddamn hands off me!” Juno snarled, jolting away from the touch as if he had been burned. Nureyev’s hands immediately fell away from Juno’s face, and he sat completely still while Juno climbed off his lap.

Juno could feel his hot blush as his dress fell open before he was able to catch it. He couldn’t even remember _when_ the belt had been taken off, which just served to embarrass him even further.

“Juno, please listen—”

“If you say _any_ of that ‘this is real’ bullshit, I will walk out right now, Nureyev,” Juno growled, and Nureyev’s mouth snapped shut.

They were quiet for a few moments while Juno located his belt and struggled to cinch it around his waist. His eyes were burning, his already limited vision blurry with his tears.

“No, you only started sniffing around me after that day at Hyperion Brewing. You’re just sticking around for information, or to spy on me, or whatever, so _none_ of this is real!” Juno said bitterly, his hands shaking so badly he almost dropped his belt.

“I have never even come close to pressing for details about the job!” Nureyev defended himself, his tone annoyed. “All evening, I could have asked you about your eye, or your scars, under the guise of getting to know you, but I didn’t.”

Ice flooded his veins as Juno finally got the belt done up, the mention of his eye and his scars almost more painful than everything else. Of course Nureyev would have noticed, and he likely thought they were hideous just as everyone else did. But Juno was _useful_ , Juno might have had information, so Nureyev was willing to tolerate him.

For a moment, all Juno could think about was Diamond pointing out his eyepatch constantly, the persistent suggestions to get a prosthetic eye and cosmetic surgery to clean up the scars. He was back in that apartment, after a year of surgeries and physical therapy, pleading with Diamond to understand just how much he didn’t want to go under again.

The humiliation of begging his _fiance_ to still love him flared in him.

The moment Juno lost any semblance of usefulness, the disgust for his eye jumped to the forefront. It was the same sad story, one that Juno thought he was used to, but it hurt so much more with Nureyev.

“Oh, should I _thank you_ then?” Juno asked, laughing bitterly. “Thanks for not asking about my worst job, my biggest goddamn failure, and amateur eye-surgery when you _could_ have?”

“You know that’s not what I meant, Juno—” Nureyev said, sounding frustrated.

“Do I?” Juno countered, and that seemed to give Nureyev pause. When the thief opened his mouth to refute, Juno shook his head. “There’s something called ‘the long game’, Nureyev. You not asking me tonight means _nothing_.”

Nureyev wisely kept his mouth shut and Juno had to look away. He looked miserable sitting there on the bed, his expression deeply sad with his mouth, jaw, and throat smudged with Juno’s dark lipstick. There was a twist in his gut that felt like doubt, and for a moment Juno wanted to crawl back into his lap and kiss him, to take back his angry words and resume the perfect evening.

Shaking himself, Juno remembered the months of fear, of keeping his head down and his mouth shut, of trying to hold everything together. Then Nureyev had the nerve to seduce him when he worked for the person who was _responsible_ for all of that.

“I actually thought the Piranha was done having her lackeys follow me,” Juno laughed. “This is really cruel though, even for her.

“Juno, I’m no one’s ‘lackey’,” Nureyev said pleadingly, shaking his head. “I was interested in you before I knew you were involved—”

“And after?” Juno interrupted, crossing his arms tightly.

Nureyev looked up at him, confused and thrown off guard by the question. “After what?” he asked eventually, quiet and unsure.

“After you found out, Nureyev. When you found out, you kept coming, you made me—” ‘fall for you’ Juno thought, and just barely managed to stop himself. Taking a deep breath, Juno started over, his voice low with his anger. “When you found out who I was, how close I was to this, why did you keep coming around?”

Nureyev took a deep breath, and said, “I was immediately taken with you from the moment I saw you—”

“Come off it, Nureyev,” Juno scoffed, rolling his eyes even as butterflies swarmed his guts. “You expect me to believe that?”

“I don’t ‘expect’ anything from you, Juno,” Nureyev said flatly, and that annoyance was back in his voice. “Except perhaps that you allow me to answer the questions you _ask me_.”

Juno huffed a loud breath and looked away. He wasn’t keen on admitting that Nureyev had a bit of a point.

“I saw you at the restaurant, and I was drawn to you, and I can’t explain _why_. You were handsome, and the way you looked at me… I was intrigued,” Nureyev explained haltingly and shrugged. “I found out your name from the owner. I didn’t know your connection to my job at the time.”

“Why would you be so interested in a complete stranger?” Juno asked incredulously.

“I don’t know, Juno!” Nureyev burst out, and he ran his hands back through his long hair. “I don’t normally let a pretty face capture my attention or distract me from a job! Remember, I’m a very good thief, which makes falling in love with part-time private eyes incredibly inconvenient.”

Juno’s insides froze as he said that, searching Nureyev’s face for a lie, especially surrounding the word ‘love’. Nureyev looked honest, his expression open and earnest for Juno to read, which was somehow the scariest thing in that moment.

But that wasn’t how the world worked, he thought bitterly. That man, the thief, came into his life— only occupying space in it for two weeks— and he was already making claims or allusions to feelings a partner of over a decade didn’t even have. It was impossible, and he would have to be pretty stupid to believe it.

“So ‘love at first sight’. _That_ is what you’re trying to sell me?” Juno asked mockingly, emulating some of Benten’s sharp tone.

Nureyev’s jaw visibly twitched and a dark blush overcame his features. He was clearly getting frustrated with the conversation, and Juno prepared himself for anger, for the admission of his guilt.

“I’m not trying to _sell_ you anything, least of all something so fanciful,” Nureyev finally replied, and his voice was softer than his intense gaze let on. “But I do care deeply for you now. Your ‘buying it’ has no bearing on the truth of it.”

Juno ground his teeth viciously, anger flashing through him that the thief would continue the act. That he wouldn’t just cut it out and _admit_ it.

“So you were curious, we’ll go with that. Any smart criminal would find out that the tail they’re chasing is a part-time private eye and run the other way,” Juno said. “But you kept coming around, getting closer to me. Why?”

“I was selfish,” Nureyev admitted after a steadying breath through his nose. “I didn’t want to leave without seeing you.”

“So, you played with my feelings?”

“I did not play with your feelings, Juno,” Nureyev replied earnestly, almost desperately. “But when it became obvious you reciprocated, I couldn’t hurt you by just disappearing.”

Juno laughed loudly at that. “And this is better?” he asked coldly, and Nureyev’s expression crumpled under it.

Juno wanted to stop, to shut his mouth and leave. He wanted so badly to just go home, crawl into his bed and hide.

“That job, Piranha and whoever she works for, _ruined_ my life, Nureyev. The people you’re working for destroyed _everything_ , and you come along and just—” Juno interrupts himself with a watery, harsh laugh, shaking his head. “You should’ve just _left_ , Nureyev. I have plenty of experience with that. I would’ve survived.”

Juno immediately regretted the words the moment he said them, especially with the way Nureyev’s expression went slack and his eyes glassy with unshed tears.

“Your piss-poor attitude was only cute when you looked like—”

Juno opened his mouth to take it back but Nureyev just cleared his throat and stood, towering over him once again.

“Of course,” he said, his voice hoarse with emotion. “As I said, it was selfish.”

Juno pinched the bridge of his nose as Nureyev left the bedroom to sit at the desk in the living room.

“Nureyev, listen, I didn’t mean—” Juno began as he followed Nureyev, watching as the man opened his laptop.

“No, you were right, Juno. I should have left you alone from the beginning,” Nureyev insisted. “This was foolish on my part.”

Juno felt his anger and hurt wane as he watched Nureyev. There was nothing too obvious to let on to his emotions, but there was the slightest slump to his usually perfect posture, which only served to break Juno’s heart further.

When Juno properly paid attention to what Nureyev was doing, he realized he was looking at surveillance feeds. “What are you doing?” he asked, his brow furrowed.

“Deleting any surveillance video with my face, and also your arrival at the hotel,” he answered quietly, not even looking away from the monitor.

“You’ve been doing this every night?” That bloom of doubt was back, and Juno hated it.

“Yes, which has been getting exhausting. I’ve put off finishing this for too long,” Nureyev sighed. “I’ve been reckless, and it’s only a matter of time before I make a mistake if I haven’t already.”

Juno immediately recognised that fact, and the rest of his anger left him so suddenly he felt dizzy. “Why would you risk so much?”

Nureyev did not even pause in his work on the laptop as he smiled sadly and replied, “I’m sure you can divine my reasons from my previous statements, dear detective. You’re very clever.”

Juno felt his face heat up at the praise and felt annoyed at himself all over again. He was making himself the easiest mark ever for people like Nureyev.

Then the thief’s fingers faltered in their typing and he tipped his head thoughtfully. “What did you mean by ‘amateur eye surgery’?” Nureyev asked. “Or ‘the Piranha’ for that matter?”

Juno raised an eyebrow when Nureyev turned to look at him. “You haven’t met your employer’s pet thug?” he asked sceptically. “She’s a real piece of work, you know? Sadistic, and I mean, I go for a little pain—”

“Juno,” Nureyev interrupted softly, and snapped him out of his sarcastic tirade.

“Fine. She’s really ugly, missing an ear, tons of scars? Her teeth are all sharp—” Juno began, but he stopped abruptly as his heart rate picked up just thinking about her.

“She has an underbite?” Nureyev supplied and Juno nodded gratefully.

“That’s the one. I call her the Piranha. Didn’t really catch a name between her stun blast and…” Juno said, trailing off to gesture at his eye. At Nureyev’s blank look, he shifted on his feet uncomfortably. “C’mon Nureyev, you knew I lost my eye during that job. You said it yourself.”

Nureyev turned back to the laptop and clicked the keyboard a few more times before slowly shutting it. “I was under the impression— no, _told_ your eye had been an injury sustained in an altercation,” Nureyev replied when he turned to meet Juno’s gaze again. “An accident.”

Juno frowned with a sceptical snort. “I mean, if torture falls under the ‘altercation’ umbrella, then yeah. But it wasn’t an accident.”

It was obvious that several pieces of information were clicking into place for Nureyev if his narrowed eyes were anything to go by. “Either my employer is unaware of this ‘Piranha’s’ true actions that day, or he lied to me,” Nureyev finally said after a moment, sucking his teeth a bit before saying, “I’m not sure which is worse.”

“Normally, I would say he lied to you. But she worked overtime to keep my mouth shut, so,” Juno said, trailing off with a shrug. The distinct feeling of panic overcame him, and he tried to calm himself down.

“What do you mean, Juno?” Nureyev asked, and his voice was so gentle, it made Juno _want_ so much. He wanted to be held again, he wanted to crawl into bed and have strong arms wrapped around him tightly, he wanted Nureyev to kiss him again, if only to remind him that he was sitting in a hotel room and not in that dark, terrible cellar.

“She said whoever she worked for wouldn’t be happy if I died,” he replied, his words stilted as he said them. “Didn’t stop her from carving up my eye and stalking my loved ones, but hey. I survived.”

Juno sat heavily in the armchair near the desk, pinching the bridge of his nose. When he looked up again, he saw that Nureyev had turned to fully face him, waiting patiently for him to continue.

“When I was in the hospital, one of her goons came by and dropped an entire folder of pictures of Benten and Rita in my lap. Nothing else, just that. The asshole didn’t even _say_ anything,” he said, his voice breaking a bit and his face felt hot as tears stung his eyes again. “She had me followed _for months_ , and every couple of weeks a new goon would hand me a new folder full of new pictures.”

“Juno—” Nureyev began, lifting his hand as if to reach for Juno’s, but appeared to think better of it. Juno wished Nureyev had followed through, which he knew was ridiculous after the scene he had been making, so he shook it off with a deep breath.

“The worst was—” Juno choked on the words for a moment, the fear gripping him. “The worst was a picture of Benten. It was taken from inside his apartment. It was some guy Benten had brought home, someone he met at a bar. But the message was loud and clear.”

“Juno…” Nureyev murmured sadly, but said nothing else.

“So, I kept my mouth shut, accepted the pictures, confirmed that I understood, and kept my head down for months,” he finished explaining, shrugging a bit.

Nureyev was silent, watching his face with an unreadable expression.

“Fuck, all of that, and for nothing. Just to get dragged back into it all,” Juno muttered as an aside to himself. With a disgusted noise, Juno met Nureyev’s eyes. “Who’s your employer anyway? I know it’s one of Pereyra’s opponents, but I never found out who.”

“Ramses O’Flaherty,” Nureyev responded without hesitation and was startled at Juno’s bark of laughter.

“O’Flaherty? Bullshit,” Juno said with an eye-roll.

“I assure you, dear detective. It is Ramses O’Flaherty who is signing my paycheque,” Nureyev replied, a bit confused.

“But that makes _no sense_ ,” Juno argued, his incredulity almost palpable. “His political ads, his speeches, hell, his entire _platform_ is built on being anti-crime and anti-cop! The Piranha and the crap I found at her safehouse are the complete opposite.”

Nureyev’s curiosity was piqued at that. “You saw what was in the cases?”

“Yeah?” Juno replied, a bit confused. “O’Flaherty didn’t tell you what was in them?”

“He was insistent that I refrain from looking,” Nureyev replied thoughtfully. “He was also going on about the Greater Good, though I had stopped listening at that point.”

“Yeah, that does sound like O’Flaherty,” Juno sighed. “The one case had a little chip in it. Something called the _THEIA_ something or whatever. The other stuff was some tech, looked like drones with a ton of firepower. The inscription said they were—”

Juno cut himself off to think back, trying to remember the inscriptions and what they said. He jolted when he remembered that the items were from New Kinshasa, and they all were marked with G.A.S. preceding a series of numbers.

“Juno?” Nureyev prompted him gently, his voice filled with concern.

“The tech was from New Kinshasa,” Juno started cautiously, sucking in a deep breath when Nureyev tensed. “Some… hyper-mobile update to their Guardian Angel System.”

All of the colour left Nureyev’s face as he asked quietly, “... What?” Juno could see in Nureyev’s eyes that he was living a waking nightmare, and he wanted to stop the entire conversation and hold him.

“Back then, I sent Rita a picture of the stuff and had her look it up. Turns out, about twenty years ago, New Kinshasa started pouring a ton of money into R&D,” Juno explained instead. “I guess some radicals almost destroyed the whole city, so they wanted something that wouldn’t be so easy to take down.”

“And how did O’Flaherty come into possession of this?” Nureyev asked, his voice shaking with barely concealed anger. Juno could understand that feeling.

“Well, with the end of the war and Brahma joining the Solar government, they needed money,” Juno replied with an angry laugh. “They started selling units to interested parties to test the whole thing. Nothing says ‘peace’ like a government institution selling weapons to private investors.”

Nureyev smirked at the sarcasm, but his voice was tight as he asked, “And what did you learn about these radicals?”

“Not much,” he replied with a shrug, and is startled a bit by the sharp look Nureyev gives him. “I mean, Rita probably knew more at the time, but then she went off about some betrayal plot on one of her streams.”

“But _after_ the case—”

“Nureyev, everyone I loved was being threatened after the case,” Juno reminded him. “I told Rita to get rid of all that info she dug up after the first goon threatened me in the hospital.”

Nureyev nodded woodenly, his eyes distant as he apparently stared at Juno’s knees.

“You okay, Nureyev?” Juno asked, and it came out far more tenderly than he wanted it to be, but he couldn’t help it.

Nureyev snapped out of his thoughts and met Juno’s gaze again with a distracted, “Hm?”

“You went somewhere far away,” Juno said, and he wanted to hold Nureyev’s hand, to bring him back and soothe that troubled expression from his face.

Nureyev watched Juno as well, obviously debating something behind his bright eyes. Something shifted in Nureyev’s expression, something sharp and dangerous, and Juno felt his breath catch in his throat.

“I’m planning to steal the weapons and have them destroyed,” Nureyev said firmly. “They shouldn’t be in anyone’s hands.”

“Glad to hear it,” Juno said, aiming for sarcastic, but it came out sincerely pleased. “I mean, I figured, because I know, roughly, what happens on Brahma, but—”

“I was one of the so-called ‘radicals’. Twenty years ago, with my mentor,” Nureyev confessed, the words rushed and hitting Juno hard in the chest. “We were hardly radicals, honestly. We were thieves, stealing the core to the Guardian Angel System.”

“But… Rita told me the same core that powered the weapon—”

“Also powered the levitation system for the city, yes. My mentor misled me about the job, and when I found out the city would be destroyed, I tried to reason with him. Or stop him. I was…” Nureyev trailed off, looking haunted before he snapped himself out of it. “It doesn’t matter. When he refused to stop, I— I killed him.”

“Nureyev…” Juno started, but he had nothing he could say to that.

Looking at the thief now, Juno realized how _young_ Nureyev would have been when that all happened. It made Juno’s heart ache for Nureyev, and then he remembered what Nureyev had said over dinner. His mentor had saved him from the streets, and later he felt he had to kill the man to save a whole city.

“I don’t regret it. I couldn’t see the justification in destroying an entire city, and I still can’t,” Nureyev said after a few moments, his tone clipped and rehearsed. It sounded defensive, like something the thief repeated to himself daily. It was the first thing Nureyev had said that felt like a lie the whole evening, but Juno knew it wasn’t a lie for _him_. “He was wrong, and I couldn’t let him leave with the core.”

Juno wanted to leave it there, but he never could stop asking questions. “Then why does it look like you regret it?”

Nureyev’s features closed up, like shutters being pulled. “Is that relevant right now?” he asked curtly.

Juno watched him, a sadness for Nureyev so deep in his heart he felt close to crying, and his anger from earlier was all but forgotten. Eventually, he shook his head with a heavy sigh.

“No, I guess it’s not, you’re right,” he said before he added a bit awkwardly, “Thanks for… telling me, I guess. You didn’t have to.”

Nureyev shook himself a bit, straightening his posture, and raised an eyebrow. “My name is attached to that job, so the moment you would’ve had Rita look me up, you would have known. She likely already knows my name without realizing it.”

Juno was quiet for several long moments, rolling Nureyev’s words around in his head. That was all true, and he was sure Rita would have pulled up any information on him that she wanted. Hell, there was probably information out there Nureyev thought was completely hidden, but Rita could find.

“I wanted to hear what stories you have in your own words…”

He bit the inside of his cheek thoughtfully as he remembered Nureyev’s words from dinner.

“I wasn’t going to ‘look you up’,” he finally said.

Nureyev looked visibly shocked, and then sceptical. “And why not?”

Juno shrugged with a sad chuckle. “Why didn’t _you_ look _me_ up?” he countered.

It was almost funny enough for Juno to laugh when realization dawned on Nureyev, his eyes widening with a soft “ _oh_ ” as he looked down at his hands in his lap.

The conversation had gotten too emotional, too vulnerable for Juno to handle at the moment, so he changed the subject. “So what’s the plan? What are we doing?”

Nureyev met his gaze again, deeply concerned. “We?” he asked.

“Yeah, ‘we’. You and I both want those weapons destroyed,” Juno replied firmly. “I want to stop Pilot and Ramses, and _you_ brought me back into this mess whether you meant to or not. I’m coming with you, and you’re not going to stop me.”

Nureyev made a small noise and shook his head. “But Juno, your eye—”

“—Isn’t coming back any time soon! And hey, I figure I owe it some payback anyway,” Juno interrupted with a shrug, his tone flippant and deliberately infuriating.

Nureyev was flustered, visibly stressed at the thought of Juno joining him. Juno would have found it cute, even flattering, if he wasn’t still coming down from his hurt and anger.

“Juno, I can’t— it’s _dangerous_ —” Nureyev started again and Juno laughed a bit.

“I’m a private eye, Nureyev. ‘Danger’ is in the job description,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “Give me a real reason.”

Nureyev paused for a long time before leaning forward to gently, tentatively touch the back of Juno’s hand. Without hesitation, Juno turns his hand and allows Nureyev to hold it.

“I don’t want to see you get hurt by them again,” Nureyev confessed very quietly, barely loud enough for Juno to hear.

Juno felt his heart flip several times, his breath leaving him in a short whoosh, and he had to fight to be annoyed at the coddling. “I can handle myself, Nureyev,” he snapped with a pout, though it held no heat.

“Oh, I know, my dear detective. I would never doubt your resilience,” Nureyev said with a small laugh, reaching up with his other hand to cup Juno’s cheek. His expression turned so soft and earnest, Juno felt overwhelmed with his _want_ for that gentle concern. “I only wish you knew you didn’t always _have_ to. You could just let me do this and be done with it entirely.”

For a moment, Juno very nearly gave in to that soft request, to let Nureyev take care of him, of their combined mess, but that was just not possible for him.

“You don’t seem to get it,” Juno said with a shake of his head. “This is my problem, my screw-up, my responsibility. Plus, you got me involved again.”

Nureyev stroked the back of Juno’s hand and cheek with his thumbs thoughtfully, and the sensation of the smooth leather of his gloves sent shivers up Juno’s spine. “Fair enough,” he said eventually, nodding. “Just know that I’m not used to working with someone else.”

The two of them spent the better part of an hour going over Nureyev’s existing plans for the heist, working Juno into them and reworking the parts that wouldn’t work with two people. The plan had been brilliant to start with, and Juno almost felt bad about coming in with a sledgehammer. However, when all was said and done, Juno was legitimately confident in the new plan.

That— being confident in the plan— was enough to plant a seedling of doubt in his gut. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he heard Benten calling him ‘Lady Raincloud’ and dismissed his nerves. He and Nureyev were both professionals in their own ways, and they could handle an in-and-out job.

Juno was standing at the desk next to where Nureyev sat, bent at the waist and propped on one hand, idly chewing on his thumbnail while he stared at the laptop screen. “I can have Rita look into finding a different way in, but the sewer is really our best bet. And maybe a better way to deal with the security cameras,” he murmured, mostly to himself but Nureyev hummed his agreement. “I’m not liking how tight that window is.”

If Nureyev was uncomfortable involving Rita, he didn’t say anything.

“So,” Juno said slowly, looking at Nureyev. “Two nights from now?”

“That should give us enough time to collect what intel we need,” Nureyev confirmed, before looking up at him and slyly adding with a smirk, “It also gives me _at least_ twenty-four more hours to convince you to stay out of it.”

Juno smirked right back. “Don’t count on it.”

A moment of absolute silence stretched between them as they looked at each other, and slowly Nureyev’s smirk softened to something fond. Juno jumped a bit as gloved fingers slid gently against the outside of his bare thigh before he shivered. With a shaky sigh, Juno leaned into the contact.

“Juno, I—” Nureyev started hesitantly before taking a deep breath. “I want you to know that I care very deeply for you, and that I never thought of you as a mark, that— I meant everything I’ve said and more.”

“I know,” Juno said in a quiet voice, and he was surprised by himself. The sincerity in Nureyev’s eyes was overwhelming, and enough to break through his usual cloud of doubt for the moment.

“The true depths of my— my feelings are unknown even to me,” Nureyev continued earnestly, apparently on a roll. “They terrify me, Juno. Whenever I _try_ to understand them, and the thought of leaving after all this…”

Juno stood back up to his full height and turned toward Nureyev, holding his face in his hands. When Nureyev allowed his eyes to flutter shut, Juno released a shuddering breath. “You don’t have to go,” Juno whispered, surprising himself yet again with his soft begging.

What right did he have asking that of Nureyev?

Nureyev’s face twisted sadly, and his lashes looked a bit wet. “Juno, please—”

“You can stay,” Juno pushed, talking over Nureyev desperately. “Rita can clear any record you have, set you up with everything you need, I have connections—”

“Juno, _stop_ , please,” Nureyev pleaded, his voice so soft Juno’s heart ached. When Nureyev opened his eyes again to look up at him, his eyes glassy. “You know I can’t stay, even if I wanted to give everything up. I do not want to retire, and I cannot stay on Mars, my love.”

Juno closed his eyes and nodded, chewing on the inside of his cheek. “I know,” he replied.

Nureyev took a deep breath and Juno could feel him shaking nervously. “Would you come with me?” he asked, in a voice so fragile Juno held completely still lest he break something. The question hit him like a solid punch to his gut, and for a few wild seconds the ‘yes’ was on the tip of his tongue.

But then he thought of Benten, and Rita, and where would they fit in his brave new future with Nureyev? A man he knew for all of two weeks? It was absurd.

“I’m sorry,” Juno whispers, his voice barely audible, even to himself. “Nureyev, I—”

“Hush, dear detective,” Nureyev said soothingly, lifting a hand to gently hold one of Juno’s wrists, the other still stroking his thigh. The contact is chaste, but it was intimate beyond anything Juno had ever experienced, even with Diamond. Now that he was looking down at Nureyev, seeing him with his hair loose, heart open, and Juno’s lipstick still smeared in places, Juno felt heat returning to his gut.

“I… I would like to spend whatever time we have left together, however you wish,” Nureyev said, his eyes soft and wet with emotion. “I will understand, however, if you wouldn’t want that.”

Juno sucked in a slow breath, shaky as it was with his conflicting thoughts. He was still upset, still angry, and normally he would have made someone who made him that angry work to get his favour back. But Nureyev didn’t have that sort of time— _they_ didn’t have that sort of time. Here in this hotel room was possibly the last time they would be together like this, and there was the entire possibility that one or both of them would be killed in two days.

So Juno stepped closer to Nureyev, bracketing one of his knees with his legs so he could stand flush to Nureyev’s body. Nureyev tipped his head back obligingly, with his eyes half-lidded and lips parted. Without hesitation, Juno dipped his head and kissed Nureyev, soft and sweet, swallowing the quiet sound of surprise the thief made.

Nureyev immediately wrapped an arm around his waist, his strength surprising given how thin his arm felt, and his hand twisted in the fabric of Juno’s dress. The hand on his thigh squeezed with sudden bruising strength as Nureyev deepened the kiss, Juno meeting him halfway with his tongue.

Juno had tangled his hands in Nureyev’s hair once again, twisting in the length of it and holding him in place, whining petulantly when Nureyev began to pull back.

“Juno, wait—” Nureyev began, their mouths still together and panting. Even as he was trying to talk, Nureyev was pressing small kisses on and around Juno’s lips.

“Nureyev, c’mon,” he managed to mumble through their needy kisses.

Nureyev slid his hand further up Juno’s thigh, slipping under the straps of the flower harness he wore and nearly grabbing his ass. The straps pulled tight against the soft flesh of Juno’s thigh, pulling a desperate gasp from him. At that, Nureyev pulled away from the kiss completely, meeting Juno’s eye. He was panting already, and Juno quite liked the image he made, dishevelled as he was with hair a mess and dark red lipstick smeared over his lips.

“Juno, I don’t want to do anything that will hurt you,” Nureyev said, and Juno could tell he meant it. That doesn’t mean he didn’t try to laugh it off.

“I like a little pain, don’t worry about that, Nureyev,” he said with a smirk. “My safe word is—”

“Juno, I’m being serious!” Nureyev snapped lightly, though interestingly enough there was some legitimate interest in his expression.

Juno sighed and stooped to kiss Nureyev again, sweet and chaste, and he hoped it was full of everything he was feeling. Words were hard at the best of times, but especially when things were intense. Juno had always been better with his actions, or at least he liked to think he was. And right then he just _wanted_ so much, so deeply, he could hardly breathe with it.

“Nureyev, I want this, I wouldn’t start it if I didn’t. And yeah, I’m still pissed at you, and yeah it’s going to hurt like hell when you leave,” Juno finally said, leaning his forehead against Nureyev’s. “But that’s at least two days away, and I just want to… have _this_ while I can. If you don’t want to after all, I get it. I’ll go home and see you tomorrow at the cafe.”

“Are you sure?” Nureyev asked.

“Nureyev, I’m sure,” Jun replied impatiently.

Nureyev’s lips spread into a shit-eating grin. “Absolutely positive?”

“Knock it off, Nureyev,” Juno growled, moaning softly into a kiss that suddenly captured his lips.

Nureyev smiled warmly up at him when he pulled back. “Just need to hear you say it,” he sighed, and Juno rolled his eyes.

“Glad we cleared that up, then, now can we—”

Juno let out a squeak of surprise when Nureyev stood up, the arm around his back and gloved hand on his thigh steadying him. His mouth was seized in a hungry kiss, the pressure rough and full of teeth, as he was half-walked, half-carried the handful of steps back into the bedroom.

Nureyev let him go once they reached the edge of the bed to work on Juno’s belt. He hadn’t done it up quite right when he put it back on earlier, so Nureyev did have to pull away from the kiss with a laugh to undo it properly. Juno grinned up at him like a dope at the laugh, and accepted the kiss that was dropped to his mouth once the belt fell away and the drape of the gown fell open again.

Juno tried to think about it as a fling, that he wasn’t impossibly far gone on Nureyev already, that his laugh didn’t fill him with so much light he feared he might burst from it.

Nureyev reached up to gently touch Juno’s eyepatch in silent question, and panic flooded his veins with ice. He wasn’t ready for Nureyev to see his eye just yet, not ready for him to look at him with disgust or pity or that terrible combination of both.

When Juno jerkily shook his head, Nureyev smiled gently and backed off without question.

“Now how does the rest of this come off, love?” he asked, tugging at Juno’s dress a bit.

Juno’s relief was so overwhelming, he almost had to sit down. Instead, he huffed out a soft laugh and dragged Nureyev back down into a needy kiss, happily swallowing his soft sound of surprise.

_** [click to skip smut] ** _

* * *

Pulling back, Juno reached up to a hidden clasp at the bustline, releasing it to let the dress fall open and slip down his body. The cuffs of the sleeves caught momentarily at his wrists until he shook them free, letting the yellow fabric pool around his feet and leaving himself standing there practically naked except for the fancy harness Ben had thrown at him, a thong, and his shoes.

Nureyev had gone still and stared as the dress fell away, and Juno began to feel self-conscious under the prolonged gaze. Suddenly, he was worried that the harness accentuated his soft tummy and pulled too tight across his plump hips. It wasn’t often that he actually worried about his body’s appearance, but now Juno couldn’t shake the gnawing worry in his gut.

“Nureyev?” Juno prompted, moving to cross his arms over his middle to give himself some cover.

“Apologies, Juno,” Nureyev sighed reverently, gently grabbing his wrists and pulling them away. He stroked his hands up Juno’s arms to his shoulders and chest. With a low growl, Nureyev added, “Simply admiring a work of art.”

At that, Nureyev moved his hands down Juno’s chest, briefly pausing to tease his sensitive nipples with his gloved fingertips. Moving along, he ran the tips of his fingers along the edges of the straps that criss-crossed between the embroidered flowers that framed his tits and soft stomach. With a pleased sigh, Nureyev trailed his hands back to Juno’s nipples, plucking at the barbells of his piercings until Juno gasped out a desperate sound.

“Absolutely gorgeous,” Nureyev moaned, laughing serenely.

Even though the compliment did not land, Juno sobbed quietly at the praise and fumbled with the clasps of Nureyev’s corset all over again. He found it completely unfair that he was practically naked already, yet Nureyev was still fully clothed. It was past time to even the playing field a bit.

The task would have been easier if Nureyev hadn’t stooped to recapture his mouth while also paying singular and intense attention to his nipples. All higher thinking processes stuttered to a halt when Nureyev rolled his thumbs firmly over the swollen and sensitive nubs at the same moment he bit Juno’s lower lip with his sharp teeth.

Somehow, without any help from the insufferable man pulling him apart, Juno managed to get the corset off of Nureyev and began to work furiously on the button and fly of his shorts. When one of the hands abandoned his tits to cup his half-hard dick through the silky thong he wore, Juno sobbed against Nureyev’s tongue.

“You make such pretty sounds, Juno,” Nureyev sighed, only pulling back from the kiss by a small fraction.

The praise wrenched yet another broken sound from Juno, just to be swallowed eagerly by Nureyev’s greedy mouth. The firm, long-fingered hand on his cock squeezed, pulling a desperate cry from Juno as his knees buckled. Somehow, Nureyev caught Juno around the waist and dragged him back up into a demanding kiss.

Juno gave up trying to get into Nureyev’s impossibly tight shorts, instead choosing to cling to his shoulders and hang on. The insistent hand on his cock was still there, pumping him steadily through his thong until he was nearly sobbing, only stopping himself by biting his lip.

“Don’t hold back, Juno,” Nureyev purred, his voice sending shivers up Juno’s spine and even more heat to his already throbbing cock.

Juno was overwhelmed, standing there at the edge of the bed with his toes barely touching the ground. Nureyev held him tightly around the middle with one arm, one gloved hand twisted in the straps of his harness at his side, while the other worked steadily to completely unravel his sanity. With a loud cry, Juno’s head fell back and immediately Nureyev’s teeth descended upon his throat, biting roughly at his pulse and dragging more shattered sounds from him.

The thief groaned, pressing soothing kisses to the new bruises blooming just under Juno’s skin. Nureyev growled as he pulled Juno out of the silky front of his thong, wrapping a leather-clad hand around the length and swiping the pad of his thumb across the tip of his cock. Juno almost screamed, the leather providing such delicious friction that he could hardly breathe.

“Nureyev,” Juno all but sobbed as his eyes rolled back in his head and he pushed at the thief’s shoulders. “The bed, please!”

“Of course, my goddess,” Nureyev sighed against his throat.

Juno tried to be annoyed at the pet name, but his face felt hot with his blush and his cock throbbed. “Shut up,” he demanded, but the pleased lilt to his voice betrayed him.

Pulling back to meet his gaze, Nureyev smirked. “Never, goddess,” he growled, and with that Nureyev set Juno back down on his feet and pushed him onto the bed.

Sprawled across the duvet and breathless, Juno stared up at Nureyev with a heated, desperate look. With the blazer and corset gone, he was finally able to drink his fill of his gorgeous partner. The lace shirt appeared to be more of a lace camisole, leaving his lithe, pale arms bare for Juno to admire the subtle corded muscle there. Juno could see the small, perky swells of Nureyev’s tits, the nipples strategically covered by flowers in the lace, and he desperately wanted his mouth on them.

Nureyev let out a huff as he finished Juno’s work on his own fly, sharp teeth biting into his bottom lip as it came undone. Their gazes met for a moment, just before Nureyev slipped one gloved hand into his open shorts and let out a thick moan. Juno’s own breathing stopped at the gorgeous sight of his lover standing above him, still practically fully dressed, and jacking himself off.

“N’reyev,” Juno moaned, reaching down to stroke his own cock as he watched, his eyes rolling back at the stimulation. It wasn’t good enough, but he needed something.

When he looked back up at Nureyev, the man met his eye and bent over until he was supporting himself on his hand above Juno. His long, dark hair fell over one shoulder like a curtain to pool a bit on the bed next to Juno’s head, the silver streak catching the light and almost shimmering. Withdrawing his hand from his shorts with a sigh, Nureyev held it up for both of them to see the shiny slickness that coated his leather glove. He spread his fingers, and Juno nearly sobbed at the sticky chain that hung in the air between them.

“Look how wet you’ve made me, Juno. That’s all you and your beautiful sounds,” Nureyev sighed when he met Juno’s gaze again, moaning deep in his throat on his next exhale. “We’ve barely even started, goddess.”

Juno let go of his own cock to prop himself on his elbows beneath Nureyev. Holding the man’s gaze, he closed his mouth around Nureyev’s fingers and sucked. Letting his eyes flutter a bit, Juno groans thickly at the taste of him, at the feeling of smooth, buttery leather on his tongue, at how _deep_ Nureyev’s fingers went into his mouth, how perfect their weight on his tongue felt. After a moment or two of licking and sucking, Juno looked back up at Nureyev through his eyelashes and forced his tongue between them, rolling the piercings in his tongue against the digits meaningfully.

A wordless promise, threat, or demand, Juno wasn’t sure, but Nureyev’s reaction made that simple tease all the more worth it.

The man made a sound, something close to a growl, before he pulled his fingers free with a pop and dragged Juno up into another kiss. Juno whined happily, one arm wrapped around the back of Nureyev’s neck, while his other hand dove into his shorts to touch that slick heat himself.

His fingertips framed Nureyev’s dick, and he moaned when he found what felt like metal at the base of it. Fiddling with it made the thief buck against the pressure with a sob, and Juno had to stop kissing him to catch his breath.

“Holy shit, you’re decorated down there, too?” Juno asked through a moan, his voice shaky as he continued to play with the piercing in Nureyev’s dick.

Nureyev nodded frantically, his hair dampening at the roots with sweat. “It _hhh_ -has practical— _mhm_ , practical app-applications,” Nureyev hummed, stumbling over his words in a way Juno had never seen him do, and Juno decided he very much liked this development.

“I can see that,” Juno teased, pulling a shout from Nureyev with the next tug on his dick.

“ _Nn_ -no, I mean it’s for my _cock_ ,” Nureyev managed to say as he began to rut shamelessly against Juno’s hand.

At that, Juno couldn’t help the excited laugh that bubbled up, his fingers faltering in picking Nureyev apart. “Oh, shit,” he moaned thickly. “You have one of those fancy straps?”

Nureyev smirked down at him. “I do. Have you ever been fucked with one?” he asked, his voice low and sultry, and Juno grinned.

“Not yet,” Juno replied, moaning softly. “I’m hoping that will change tonight, though.”

With that, Juno framed Nureyev’s pierced dick with two fingers and worked it slowly, each rock of his hand teasing the slick opening of Nureyev’s cunt with his fingertips. Nureyev hitched his hips down for more friction, panting against Juno’s mouth, completely unable to kiss him properly anymore.

Nureyev was quiet in his pleasure, only letting out the occasional low groan when Juno would swivel his fingers just _so_. It was incredibly hot for Juno to hear the man sound so needy, given the way he always seemed so well put together. With a hungry sound, Juno shuffled down the bed until he was able to seal his mouth over one of Nureyev’s nipples through his lace shirt, swiping his tongue across the pebbled peak greedily before suckling.

“ _Oh_ , Juno, please,” Nureyev whined, grabbing his wrist to stop his hand. “I’m not going to last like this.”

Juno grinned at the confession before sucking and pulling off of Nureyev’s tit with a pop. “You sure know how to make a lady feel good about himself, Nureyev,” Juno teased, though he was genuinely pleased. Scooting back up the bed, Juno accepted the deep kiss Nureyev had for him as he withdrew his hand from Nureyev’s shorts. His fingers were slick and when Nureyev pulled back to breathe, Juno took them into his mouth to taste Nureyev again.

“ _Juno_ …”

Juno felt his own cock throb at the sound of his name being moaned like that, and very suddenly, he found himself alone on the bed, blinking up at Nureyev who had sat up to pull away his thong. It was an endeavour that did not end with the desired results, as the garment was settled _under_ the harness.

“Shit,” Juno grumbled, annoyed with himself and covering his face with both hands.

It was the Chastity Thong, as Benten called it. The idea had been that by wearing the thong _under_ the harness, the very activity they were getting themselves up to would be discouraged. It had been Benten’s idea, of course, when he made Juno swear he wouldn’t be a “fast and loose slut for the criminal.” Juno couldn’t even pretend to feel bad for not listening.

“Don’t take the harness off,” Juno pleaded with a laugh, looking back up at Nureyev. “It’s a pain in the ass to put back on.”

Nureyev raised an eyebrow sceptically at him. “Juno, if I had my way, you would wear this harness, and only this harness, every day for the rest of our natural lives,” he said, his voice firm and Juno had no doubt about how serious he was.

Juno’s breath left him in a whoosh and he laughed a bit shakily. “Duly noted,” he said breathlessly before swallowing thickly and clearing his throat. “I guess it’s easy enough to move the strap out of the way—”

Nureyev interrupted Juno with a _tsk_ and reached back to his boot to pull a knife out. Juno’s heart stopped at the glint of metal under the dim lights of the bedroom, a brief moment of panic before he remembered that this was Nureyev, that he wasn’t back in that cellar, and with that thought his chest tightened with arousal. He sucked in a small breath as the flat of the blade slid up the outside of Juno’s hip, teasing the skin around the straps of the harness.

Once the blade slipped under the strap of the thong at his hip, Nureyev gave it a small flick and cut the strap with a faint pop. Paying the same attention to the other hip, Nureyev made quick work of getting rid of the thong.

The whole experience was unbelievably hot, and he gasped when Nureyev pulled the garment away from his body and tossed it aside.

“Great, Nureyev. Making me go home without underwear?” Juno managed to grouse, though the only heat behind the complaint was arousal.

Nureyev grinned, showing off his sharp teeth. “Definitely is a lovely image, if you ask me,” he replied, winking at Juno.

“Get on with it, Nureyev,” Juno demanded as the thief trailed his gloved hands teasingly over his soft stomach again, shivering when Nureyev lingered around the piercing in his bellybutton.

“And what exactly is ‘it’, dear detective?” Nureyev teased before he kissed Juno and slid two leather-clad fingers up the underside of Juno’s cock.

Juno grabbed two handfuls of Nureyev’s hair and held him down, deepening the kiss into something full of teeth and his own moans. When he hitched his hips up for more pressure where he needed it most, Nureyev only pulled his hand away and Juno whined pitifully.

“I’m going to need a proper answer, Juno,” Nureyev mumbled against Juno’s mouth before pulling away to meet his gaze.

“Fucking me,” Juno growled. “That’s what ‘it’ is that you should ‘get on with.’ Happy?”

“Incredibly,” Nureyev replied cheekily, smiling indulgently as his fingers returned to their teasing. “We’re in no rush, however. We have all night, my dear detective.”

“Doesn’t mean we have to _take_ all night,” Juno grumbled, though the thought of “all night” did have his breath catching in his throat. He doubted he could manage anything so athletic at his age, but the thought was nice.

Better than nice, really.

Nureyev only chuckled, wrapping his hand around Juno’s cock in a firm grip and leaning down to press his lips to the hinge of his jaw. “I intend to take you apart, Juno,” he whispered against his ear.

“Oh, _shit_ , yes,” Juno gasped, his eyes fluttering shut as Nureyev began moving his hand slow and steady on his cock.

“I will make you come undone in a way no one else ever has,” Nureyev continued, pressing a wet, open-mouthed kiss on Juno’s cheek.

Juno already felt like he was about to come, his cock harder than ever and absolutely dripping with precum as Nureyev stroked him. “ _Please_ , Nureyev,” he begged.

“But for that, my beautiful goddess, I will have to take my time,” Nureyev finished, and his tone changed to something full of gentle authority that went straight to Juno’s twitching, leaking cock. “If you have somewhere better to be, however, then by all means, you can leave now.”

“No! No, nowhere else, just here,” Juno whined, biting his cheek with embarrassment. All Nureyev had done so far was kiss him and touch his dick a bit, and he was already begging.

That thought only added to Juno’s desperate arousal.

“Then trust me to _fuck you_ the way you _need_ it, love.”

There was an extra level of firmness in Nureyev’s tone that had arousal spiking in Juno’s gut.

“O-okay,” he whispered, shuddering when Nureyev kissed his earlobe before sucking it into his mouth, nibbling lightly with his sharp teeth. He could feel Nureyev’s knowing smirk and had the knee-jerk desire to wipe it off his face. But Juno wanted to be good for Nureyev. He wanted more compliments, more praise, more gentle and rewarding kisses, just _more_.

Even if he didn’t deserve it, he wanted it, and he didn’t feel too guilty taking it.

“You’re going to have to speak up, love,” Nureyev purred, low and close to his ear, and Juno lets out a shivery moan. The hand on his cock slowed to a stop and Juno whimpered.

“Okay, Nureyev,” Juno repeated, his voice louder but no steadier.

Nureyev pressed a soft, sucking kiss to Juno’s throat with a pleased hum. “Good girl,” he murmured and Juno couldn’t help the happy whimper at the pet name. The thrill of pleasure at the praise was almost enough to make up for his disappointment when Nureyev chose that moment to get off the bed.

Juno watched him walk across the room to the tall dresser, admiring the pale, lean line of his torso as Nureyev removed his lace shirt and dropped it to the floor. The stark contrast of that gorgeous plane of his naked torso and long arms against his dark shorts and black leather gloves was distracting beyond belief. Nureyev was still wearing his burgundy thigh-high boots, which had heat pooling in Juno’s gut.

Somehow, against all odds, Juno still managed to get hotter for Nureyev.

While Nureyev dug around in the dresser, Juno sat up to untie and remove his own boots, tossing them off the side of the bed before he turned to crawl up to the pillows.

“Well, if that isn’t an absolute vision…”

Juno paused to look over his shoulder at Nureyev, ready with a saucy look and swivelling his hips enticingly, but he froze when he saw the thief.

While Juno had been taking his boots off, Nureyev had been quite busy. He was still wearing his boots, as well as his shorts with the fly wide open. But what truly captured Juno’s attention was the length of a hot pink cock curving up and out of the opening in Nureyev’s shorts. Juno could see the implants along Nureyev’s hips, and they were still blinking amber while the cock fully connected to Nureyev’s nervous system.

And to top it all off, the thief was still wearing those damn gloves.

Nureyev walked up to the side of the bed, Juno’s gaze locked on the sway of the strap for several steps before looking back up at his face. When Nureyev reached the edge of the bed, Juno almost fell over in his haste to clamber up for a kiss. One hand tangled into Nureyev’s hair as the other dropped to tweak the neural implants lining Nureyev’s hips before wrapping around Nureyev’s cock to feel and pump it erratically.

It was thick, heavy in his palm, and when he glanced down at it, the cock looked perfect in length. With a shaky sob, Juno knew he needed it inside him, desperately as if his life depended on it. Juno figured he said something aloud because Nureyev groaned around a chuckle.

“Slow down, my love,” he commanded and Juno relaxed against the bed with a forced sigh. “I’ll take care of you.”

Juno whimpered, nodding frantically. “Please, Nureyev. _Please_.”

“No need to beg, dear. You’ll have me, I promise,” Nureyev soothed and gently pushed Juno away until he was sitting back on his heels. “We have to get you ready, though.”

Juno nodded and fell onto his back on the bed, spreading his legs wantonly as he watched Nureyev go to remove one of his gloves with his teeth.

“Keep them on,” Juno pleaded before quickly adding, “Please.”

Nureyev raised an eyebrow with a broad smirk, and he finished pulling the glove off. “I’ll keep the other one on for you, love,” he said in a low, passionate voice, running the still-gloved hand up Juno’s thigh.

As he reached the harness with his hand, Nureyev caught one of the straps with his thumb, stretching it away just enough for it to snap against the skin of his thigh with a loud smack when the tension was released. Juno gasped at the slight stinging pain, his back arching off the bed and Nureyev made a thoughtful humming noise. When another strap snapped against the back of his thigh, just below his ass, Juno sobbed out his moan and writhed.

“Very interesting, Juno,” Nureyev said, his voice thick with his want and Juno all but whined when a bare palm cupped his balls and two fingers pressed against his taint. Juno choked when Nureyev’s fingers massaged the piercing in his perineum.

“So that’s what you meant when you asked about my piercings,” Nureyev mused with a light chuckle, and Juno truly wanted to join him in his laughter, but he was too hot.

Nureyev’s hand disappeared from Juno’s thigh, and Juno managed to force himself to keep his eyes open and look at his gorgeous lover. He watched as Nureyev reached down to the top of his boot and pulled a small bottle of lube out of it. Juno hadn’t even noticed it was there and the absurdity of it broke through his haze of arousal enough so that he laughed.

“Your boots are as bad as your pockets,” Juno sighed, grinning up at Nureyev.

Nureyev snorted as he slicked up two of his bare fingers. “I haven’t the faintest idea what you mean,” he replied with a wink and grabbed one of Juno’s legs to drag him closer to the edge of the bed. Then he gently pushed the knee he was holding up and out, smiling when Juno immediately did the same with his other leg. “That’s it, gorgeous. Just like that. Such a good girl.”

Juno’s chest felt like it was about to burst, and he thought it was entirely possible he would die with Nureyev praising him so steadily. Then a slick, bare finger slid inside him, the penetration almost clinical, but it felt perfect. He tolerated the gentle press and pull for a minute before he began rocking his hips down against it for more.

Nureyev stilled his hand and held his hips down with his other hand on Juno’s lower abdomen.

“ _Fuck_ , Nureyev, c’mon! I can take more!” Juno growled, grabbing at the hand holding him down and sobbing when Nureyev dug his nails into his skin.

“You will take as much as I give you,” Nureyev growled in a low voice. “And you will take it when, and _only_ when I’ve decided to give it to you.”

Heat shot through Juno, spreading from where Nureyev’s finger held him open, and he went still beneath Nureyev’s weight. Juno was torn between bratty indignance and needy compliance, and his indecision seemed to please Nureyev.

“You apparently are in need of a firm hand, dear detective,” Nureyev sighed and resumed the torturous slide of his finger in and out of Juno. “You seem accustomed to getting exactly what you want, precisely when you demand it.”

Juno couldn’t suppress the bitter scoff, and Nureyev’s gaze flashed up to meet his. Juno felt his face heat and chewed the inside of his cheek. “Not really,” he confessed, and at the anger and concern that flashed behind Nureyev’s eyes, Juno scrambled for more words. “I mean, it’s usually pretty good, but I mean— it’s nothing like _that_ , just, you know how it is, I don’t— I’m used to quickies, I guess.”

Nureyev’s lips pressed together into a thin line before he leaned down to kiss Juno, crooking his finger directly against his prostate and swallowing Juno’s scream. The thief massaged his prostate mercilessly, not backing off to allow him to catch his breath until Juno was about to vibrate out of his skin.

“This will not be a ‘quickie’, goddess,” Nureyev said firmly, as if Juno could ever mistake it as something so crass and _useless_.

“Yeah, no shit— _ah_!” Two fingers pressed into him on the next thrust. It was the same clinical in and out motion for half a minute before Nureyev scissored his fingers and began truly stretching Juno’s hole.

He arches into it, trying not to give in to his instinct to rush things but it was becoming increasingly more difficult. It became especially so when Nureyev began to hit his prostate on every other press inward. When Nureyev finally let up on holding Juno down, he fully thrust down against the fingers and sobbed when Nureyev stopped.

“No, I’m sorry,” Juno whined, tears springing to his eyes. “I’m sorry— please, Nureyev, I’m sorry—”

Nureyev immediately dropped onto an elbow to kiss Juno silent, moving his fingers again and pulling quiet, happy noises from Juno’s throat.

“Don’t apologize, gorgeous,” Nureyev murmured insistently when he pulled away to press a kiss to Juno’s cheek. “You’re so beautiful when you’re like this, my love. I just want to keep this slow, savour it for both of us.”

Letting out a shaky breath, Juno looked back up at Nureyev and met his gaze. He wanted to feel Nureyev fuck him, come undone in his arms and feeling him deep inside him, wanted to have that memory ingrained in his mind if that was all he got to keep. Juno realized in that moment that he could just ask for that, and Nureyev wouldn’t actually force him to go along with what he was doing.

But Nureyev was right; they had all night, and he could at least try that ‘going slow’ business Nureyev was trying to show him.

“Yeah, okay,” Juno gasped, licking his lips and letting his eyes roll back a bit as those impossibly long fingers pressed impossibly deep. “That sounds… nice.”

Juno knew he made the right decision at Nureyev’s blinding smile, his fangs on full display before he pressed a tender kiss to his mouth then withdrew his fingers. Nureyev stood up fully again to reapply lube to his hand, wiggling three of his slick, long fingers at Juno suggestively before pressing them inside, slow and relentless.

Juno bit his lip, trying to keep it together as he let Nureyev control the pace, and then a gloved hand wrapped loosely around his cock, rewarding him with a couple of lazy strokes. Juno groaned and threw his head back, arching his back off the bed. Twisting his fists in the duvet above his own head, Juno met Nureyev’s gaze and bit his check nearly hard enough to make himself bleed, desperate to hold back any frantic movement that could be construed as rushing the thief.

Nureyev’s smile was broad and hungry as he said, “Perfect, Juno.” Then he dropped to his knees on the floor, dragging Juno even closer to the edge of the bed.

With a wink, Nureyev took Juno’s cock into his mouth, swallowing him until his nose was nestled into the curls at the base.

Juno _sobbed_ , throwing his head back as Nureyev began to bob his head on his cock and fuck him with his fingers. Nureyev’s gloved hand stroked up over his abdomen before trailing back down along the outside of his hip to cup one of his asscheeks. Nureyev squeezed with bruising intensity at the same time he took Juno into his throat and pressed his fingers ruthlessly into Juno’s prostate until the detective threw his head back with a scream.

Shaking, Juno struggled to prop himself on his elbows to look down his body at Nureyev. The thief’s eyes were waiting for him, bright and full of tears as he suppressed his gag reflex, pupils absolutely blown wide. Whining, Juno reached down with one hand to run it through Nureyev’s tangled, long hair, if only just to ground himself.

Nureyev’s eyelids fluttered a bit before he winked up at Juno and swallowed him to the root once again. That time, when Nureyev’s fingertips drove into his prostate, the thief pressed his thumb against his taint, rolling it across the balls of his piercing, effectively pinching and massaging his sweet spot.

It was overwhelming, leaving Juno shaking and sobbing until he shoved desperately at Nureyev’s head.

“ _Nnn_ -Nureyev, you have to stop! I’m _mm_ — fuck! I’m gonna come, Nureyev!” The words were a struggle to get out, and for a terrifying moment, Juno was sure Nureyev intended to get him off right then and not even fuck him. But Nureyev pulled up off of Juno’s cock with a filthy pop and immediately halted his coordinated attack on his prostate.

Nureyev stood back up and pulled his other glove off with his teeth, and immediately ran his hand up Juno’s quivering thigh, groaning thickly. Juno was still recovering, and he couldn’t help the moan at the sensation of Nureyev’s bare hands on his skin.

“How do you want this, my dear?”

Juno blinked up at Nureyev, confused by the question and beating back his arousal. The thought was overwhelming, the thought of deciding how they went about it too much for Juno to handle at the moment.

“I-I don’t know,” Juno gasped, still trying to catch his breath.

Nureyev withdrew his fingers, soothing Juno’s disappointed whine with a gentle _shushing_ sound. Crawling up onto the bed, he guided Juno backward to make proper room for him to kneel on the edge of the mattress.

“It’s perfectly okay if you don’t know,” Nureyev whispered, kissing Juno briefly and letting him taste the salt of his precum on his tongue. The thief pulled back just to whisper, “Would you like to hear my ideas?”

Juno felt his face grow hot, but he nodded, biting his cheek as he met Nureyev’s gaze when he returned to looming above him.

“I was imagining you sitting on my cock,” Nureyev groaned, lowering his hips so that his cock was pressed against Juno’s upper-thigh, rutting a bit frantically against him. Biting his lip, Nureyev let out a breathless moan. “I’ve imagined holding you while you pleasured yourself on my cock so many times, love.”

Juno let out a startled laugh, tears springing to his eyes at that. Nureyev fantasized about him, repeatedly even, and he had fantasized about Juno’s pleasure being a priority. It was nice… overwhelming and left him feeling raw, but nice.

“Shit, Nureyev,” he murmured, trying to laugh it off. “You really know how to lay it on thick, huh?”

“Is that a problem, goddess?” Nureyev asked, and his tone was sincere.

“Well, no, just… I didn’t think I could physically get any harder, and yet…” Juno rutted up against Nureyev to demonstrate, and the thief laughed.

“So, is that a yes?” Nureyev asked teasingly, and Juno rolled them over, delighting in the startled laugh from Nureyev.

“Yeah, Nureyev, it was a yes,” Juno grumbled before pressing down to kiss Nureyev breathless.

After some adjustments, including Nureyev finally removing his boots and his shorts, the thief was leaning against a mountain of pillows with Juno straddling his lap, kissing him hungrily. Nureyev had a hand between them, slick with lube and wrapped around both of their cocks as Juno rutted and squirmed against him, gasping and moaning into Nureyev’s mouth. Nureyev’s other hand was wrapped around behind Juno, three fingers pressed in his loose, slick hole and scissoring him open.

“Nureyev,” Juno whined, dropping his head to Nureyev’s shoulder to kiss his collarbone before licking the beads of sweat there.

“Yes, my love?”

Juno shuddered, that pet name gradually worming it’s way into his head each time it was uttered, and Juno could feel the _want_ in his heart absolutely boiling over. “Fuck me,” Juno demanded before sofenting it with, “Please, baby, I need you.”

“Of course, my Juno, my perfect, beautiful Juno.”

Tears were in his eyes once again almost instantly, but this time they spilled over. _His_ Juno. It rattled around his skull, a pet name that likely meant nothing for Nureyev to utter, but meant _everything_ to Juno to hear.

But he didn’t have time to consider such romantic notions, not when Nureyev was letting go of his cock and pulling his fingers out of his ass to make room for his cock.

Nureyev gestured down at himself with a pleased grin and said, “All yours, my goddess.”

Juno did not wait, only lifted himself onto his knees and untangled his fingers from Nureyev’s hair to position the hot pink cock and hold it in place. He really did try to moderate how quickly he sat down on him, but the moment the head breached his hole, Juno couldn’t wait and took him to the hilt.

Throwing his head back and screaming, Juno’s eyes rolled back at the depth and girth of Nureyev’s cock. It hadn’t looked so long and thick, but he swore he could feel it in his _throat_. He was still adjusting to the sensation of being filled so perfectly when he moved his hands to Nureyev’s chest, cupping his perfect little tits to steady himself as he sat up a bit more. Lifting up onto his knees, Juno sobbed at the drag of Nureyev’s cock on the rim of his hole, and then dropped back down with a scream.

Nureyev gasped, moaning loudly as Juno set a brutal and fast pace, his teeth bared as he hissed through them. “Juno, you don’t have to—”

“D-don’t— you said you want me to use your cock? Let me use your cock,” Juno whimpered, idly running his thumbs back and forth over Nureyev’s nipples as he bounced desperately.

Nureyev held back any further insistence at slowing down and sat up instead to latch onto one of Juno’s nipples, catching the piercing there with his teeth and rolling it with his tongue. Nureyev flicked a thumb over the other nipple, mirroring Juno’s own movements and dragging a sobbing cry from Juno’s throat.

“You’re so sensitive, my goddess,” Nureyev said, his voice so thick with arousal it made Juno’s cock throb with need. Nureyev’s other hand was sitting on Juno’s hip, fingers tangled into the straps of the harness and holding on as if his life depended on it.

Juno already needed more, wanting to feel Nureyev deeper, feel him _harder_ . He needed to condense the lifetime he _wanted_ into the single night he was allowed to have, and it made him frantic.

“Nureyev, please,” Juno whined, dropping forward again so he could lap at the sweat on Nureyev’s throat and suck hickeys into his skin.

“What do you need, love?” Nureyev moaned, dropping his other hand so that he was holding both of Juno’s hips, guiding him in his desperate movements.

“I don’t know,” Juno all but wailed, tears soaking his eye patch and running down his other cheek. “Just more, please, Nureyev.”

“I’m sure I can work something out for you, love.

“Please, please, please— _ah_!” Juno wasn’t completely sure what had happened right away. He remembered bouncing and begging and Nureyev wrapping his arms around his waist, and then he was sprawled out on his back, staring up at the ceiling. Then he noticed Nureyev all over again, looming over him with his hair dangling around his face in tangled, sweaty clumps, and Juno was positive he had died and gone to heaven.

But then the cock inside him shifted deeper, and Juno shouted and arched his back off the bed, his voice breaking around the sound.

Tangling his fingers in the straps of Juno’s harness at his waist, Nureyev smirked down at him. “Hold on to something, gorgeous,” he murmured and Juno frantically wrapped his legs around Nureyev’s waist and held his hands up above him to brace himself against the headboard.

And that was the only warning Juno received before Nureyev did his level best to fuck him senseless and easily succeeded. The thief used the straps of his harness as leverage, actually dragging Juno to meet each and every savage thrust against his ass. It wasn’t long until Nureyev found the perfect angle, nailing Juno’s prostate on every slide in and out.

Juno knew he was being loud, his wordless wailing definitely disturbing anyone sharing the same floor or occupying the rooms above and below Nureyev. But Juno didn’t _care_ , not when he felt so unbelievably good as Nureyev rocked in and out of him. Nureyev dropped to his elbows to bite Juno’s throat with his sharp teeth, growling at the shaky cry this pulled from Juno.

It was all too soon that Juno felt the coil in his gut pull tight, ready to snap at any moment. Above him, Nureyev was panting, his breaths hitching and ending in shaky groans. They were both so close, and Juno wanted to see Nureyev come undone.

Nureyev moaned, meeting Juno’s eye. “I’m so close, love,” he said, low and heavy.

Juno bit his lip and nodded. “Me too,” he whimpered, but batted Nureyev’s hand away when he reached for his cock. “W-wanna see you come first.”

Nureyev smiled at that, a flush blooming across his cheeks. “As you wish, my love,” he moaned and dropped his hands to Juno’s shoulders and leaned against him heavily as his hips snapped harder and faster against Juno’s ass.

Juno had to work to keep his eye open as the assault on his prostate only grew more intense, but the effort to do so was well worth it. Nureyev’s face, usually perfectly poised and full of lazy amusement, had gone slack, his mouth hanging open and brow furrowed, his eyes struggling to keep from fluttering shut as well. Juno let his hands wander Nureyev’s skin until he was holding Nureyev’s little tits again, pinching and twisting his perfect, brown nipples.

Nureyev’s orgasm overcame the thief as Juno’s hands drifted lower and he fingered the neural implants at his hips. Nureyev came with such force he shouted, his mouth dropping open and his hips snapping forward three more times before he came to rest, flush against Juno’s ass.

“Holy shit, that was so hot,” Juno gasped, his own orgasm boiling just below the surface.

Nureyev, having barely caught his own breath, chuckled and rolled his hips, pulling a desperate sound from Juno. “Your turn, goddess,” Nureyev all but growled, a shaking hand wrapping around Juno’s cock.

His release arrived quickly, his moan as the coil snapped surprisingly soft given the volume of his other sounds. He only uttered a reverent cry of Nureyev’s name into the air as his cock shot pearls of cum up his abdomen and chest.

They remained sitting like that, panting and sweaty, satiated and shivering as they blinked at each other through their exhaustion for a minute or so. Then Nureyev tapped Juno’s thigh and murmured, “Let me up, love.”

With great effort, Juno unwound his stiff legs from around Nureyev and the man pulled out as gently as he could, both of them hissing at the overstimulation. The thief bent low to give Juno a kiss, swallowing the soft contented sound he made.

“Stay here, my love. I’ll get us something to clean up with,” Nureyev murmured sweetly and Juno nodded sleepily.

“Yeah, yeah,” Juno chuckled. “Not sure I could move even if I wanted to.”

* * *

next

Juno dozed a bit after his athletic evening with Nureyev. He had closed his eyes while Nureyev got up to get a washcloth, and truthfully hadn’t tried too hard to stay awake.

However, he must have slept deeper and longer than he had meant to. When Juno opened his eyes again, he found that he was cleaned up and tucked in under the duvet. Juno sighed contentedly as he registered the warm, naked body he was cuddled up against, a strong lean arm wrapped loosely around his shoulder. Nureyev’s long, slender fingers traced little symbols into the skin on the cap of Juno’s shoulder, the sensation ticklish but pleasant. Juno shifted so his legs were tangled with Nureyev’s, sighing when the arm around him held him tighter.

With a hum, Juno wrapped an arm around Nureyev’s waist and pressed a lazy kiss to his chest where his head rested. He didn’t move away immediately, instead inhaling a deep breath through his nose. Juno’s head _swam_ with the scent of Nureyev’s cologne, the smell of it somehow stronger with the musk of sweat and sex in the air.

Juno couldn’t help the little groan he made as he adjusted himself on top of Nureyev. When Juno nuzzled his nose against the skin of his throat, Nureyev made a small, happy sound and Juno grinned tiredly.

He never wanted to leave that bed, a realization that sunk heavily in his gut.

“That was amazing,” Nureyev said around a huge yawn, sounding perfectly blissed-out and sated.

Juno snorted, even as tears gathered in his eyes again. ‘Amazing’ was an understatement, which was a problem for Juno. Part of him had hoped sex with Nureyev would have been boring, or even bad, so it would have been easier for when Nureyev had to leave him. But of course, it hadn’t been; it was amazing, like nothing else Juno had ever had with another person.

Things could never be easy for Juno Steel.

“Yeah,” Juno sighed, closing his eyes. “It was.”

They laid together in comfortable silence, and Juno began dozing again as Nureyev scratched his back lightly. His eyepatch was getting uncomfortable, and he began debating taking it off. Maybe it would be okay. Nureyev was different, Juno was sure of it. Panic kicked up his heart rate, and the thought of testing that after something so perfect was nauseating.

“Juno? Are you awake?” Nureyev asked hesitantly, snapping Juno out of his spiralling thoughts. With a relieved sigh, Juno tilted his head up to look at Nureyev’s face.

“What’s up?” Juno asked, his voice laced with exhaustion. Before he could think about it or stop himself, he kissed Nureyev’s shoulder gently before propping himself on an elbow to better meet his gaze.

Nureyev was smiling at him, his eyes half-lidded and bright even in the low lighting. He looked so warm and perfect with his long hair loose around his face and shoulders. Lipstick still stained his mouth, jaw, and throat, tempting Juno to retrace his steps.

When Nureyev lifted his hand to cup his cheek, Juno turned his head to kiss his palm, closing his eyes and breathing that intoxicating scent in again.

“Oh, love,” Nureyev whispered, sliding his hand back to pull Juno into a slow, languid kiss. Juno sighed into it and pouted a bit when the thief ended it. “You’re making this very difficult.”

“You chose me, so that’s what you get,” Juno said cheekily, but was very aware that Nureyev had something serious on his mind.

“You asked me earlier why I—” Nureyev began hesitantly, his voice strained until he cleared his throat. “You asked earlier why I appeared to regret killing my… mentor, Mag.”

“Yeah, but you don’t actually have to answer that,” Juno replied. Curiosity burned in his gut, but the warm flush had left Nureyev’s face, and Juno could feel how tense he was. “I shouldn’t have asked that.”

“I want to answer it. Or I at least want you to know,” Nureyev insisted, pushing himself up to recline against the pillows more upright. “After all of that, you _should_ know.”

“I mean, if it’s that important to you, go ahead,” Juno replied, shifting to straddle Nureyev’s lap and meet his gaze easily. Nureyev smiled gently at him before leaning in for a lingering kiss. When he pulled back, he took a deep, fortifying breath.

“He was going to kill a city of innocent people, so I knew I had to stop him. But when my knife sank into his back…” Nureyev trailed off, closing his eyes as he worked through something in his head, Without thinking, Juno reached up to tuck some of Nureyev’s hair behind his ear.

“I wasn’t sure if I did it to stop him, and that there truly was no other way to do so,” Nureyev continued after a few quiet moments, “Or if I only did it because he lied.”

Juno took a deep breath and nodded, unsure of what to do with a confession like that. “About the Guardian Angel System?” he asked to clarify his meaning.

Nureyev shook his head with a soft, bitter laugh. “It would have been easier if that was his biggest lie,” Nureyev replied. “But he lied about my father.”

Juno waited for Nureyev, watching his face as he thought about his next words. It hit him suddenly that Nureyev likely hadn’t said any of this out loud to anyone before, that Juno was the first to hear this particular dark corner of Nureyev’s history.

Something small, yet terrifying fluttered to life in the back of Juno’s mind, which he quickly squashed.

“He saved me from the streets, raised me, taught me everything I know now, all while he fed me this elaborate tale about a father who was a martyr for the cause,” Nureyev continued, and he couldn’t meet Juno’s gaze anymore. “I built my _entire_ identity around my name, that idea, that _story_ . I wanted so badly to live up to my father’s legacy, to make everyone proud of me the way _he_ did.”

“But it was a lie,” Juno finished for him, his breath leaving him in a whoosh at the thought of being lied to like that. Sure, Diamond’s deception had hurt, but that was so small and petty compared to what Nureyev was telling him.

“I was so confused and lost after I killed him, and I just stopped thinking about it. Filed it away and moved on,” Nureyev said with a sigh, rolling his eyes at himself. “I was just afraid of what it would make me if I only killed him for lying.”

Juno frowned as Nureyev finished, opening his mouth to say something, but thought better of it. He wasn’t sure how much Nureyev would appreciate his lame insights, so instead he stretched upward to place a soft kiss to the corner of Nureyev’s mouth. Nureyev immediately tilted his head to accept the kiss with his lips, even as his brow furrowed in confusion and shock.

Juno pulled away and settled back against Nureyev, dropping his head onto his chest to doze off again.

“That makes sense,” he said softly, listening to the frantic heartbeat under his ear.

Nureyev was quiet for a while before he asked, “That’s all? Just ‘that makes sense’?”

Juno shrugged, suddenly concerned he had read the entire conversation wrong. “I mean, thanks… for telling me? You didn’t have to?” Juno said awkwardly, cringing at himself.

“Juno, please look at me,” Nureyev requested, and that was the last thing on the planet Juno wanted to do.

Nonetheless, Juno sat up again and met his gaze, biting the inside of his cheek. Nureyev’s eyes were wet with unshed tears, and confusion was written across his face.

“I just told you I murdered someone I considered a parent, and you… don’t care?” he asked, his voice weak with his uncertainty.

“I care, Nureyev, but I just…” As always, Juno struggled for the right words at the worst time, letting out a frustrated huff. “I care about _you_ . And, I don’t know, the _problem_ or moral dilemma you’re having with it makes sense. I guess I would be worried if you _weren’t_ torn up about it. But you did it twenty years ago and saved an entire city. If you want me to hold it against you now, you’re out of luck.”

Nureyev looked baffled before he reached up to pull Juno down into a deep, but chaste kiss. When Juno moaned softly and opened up for him, the thief sighed.

When Juno pulled back, Nureyev was smiling so softly up at him, it broke his heart.

“Stay the night?” Nureyev asked quietly.

Juno wanted nothing more than to say yes, to say that he would stay forever if Nureyev would simply ask. He thought about everything Nureyev had told him, how open he had been, and suddenly Juno wanted to tell Nureyev about Diamond. He wanted to lay in that bed and whisper confessions, and kiss, and make love into the early hours of the morning.

He wanted it all with Peter Nureyev.

As if on cue, Juno’s comms began to beep and he scrambled to the end of the bed. He found it on the ground and quickly put it in his ear.

“Juno Steel,” he answered curtly, glancing back at Nureyev.

“Juno, where the hell are you?” Benten scolded shrilly, and Juno flinched. “It’s after midnight, and you said you would call!”

Juno cringed and stuck his tongue out at Nureyev’s smug smirk. “Yeah, sorry Ben, we just got busy talking,” he said, and it wasn’t a complete lie. “I’m just waiting for the cab and I’ll be home soon. Go to bed.”

Benten was quiet for several long moments before he said, “Talking, huh?”

“Yes, Benzaiten, _talking_ ,” Juno said through gritted teeth, his face hot with embarrassment. “Go to bed.”

Benten sighed dramatically. “ _Fine_. You owe me a full play-by-play in the morning, though,” he said.

“Yeah, whatever,” Juno said with a snort. “See you in the morning.”

The commes beeped as Benten hung up and Juno looked back at Nureyev properly. He was struck all over again by the image Nureyev made surrounded by pillows, long hair messy and knotted, lipstick stains all over and completely naked. Had he been younger, Juno knew he would be hard again and ready for round two.

Nureyev smiled at him and leaned over to the bedside table for his own comms. “You try to get cleaned up a bit, and I’ll call you a cab,” Nureyev offered and was already dialling a number in.

Juno crawled back up the bed to kiss Nureyev deeply before slipping away into the bathroom.

He stared at his face in the mirror, at the way his lipstick was smeared from their kisses, and his mascara and eyeliner had run with his tears. Closing the bathroom door and locking it, Juno took the eyepatch off and grabbed the make-up wipes provided by the hotel.

They were decent quality, and did a decent enough job in cleaning up his racoon eyes, but proved useless when he tried to deal with the mess of lipstick that was smeared up his cheek. It appeared that Benten exclusively purchased make-up for demons, he thought bitterly before wetting a washcloth and giving himself another quick wash.

Stepping back into the bedroom, Juno found it to be empty. He could hear Nureyev on his laptop out in the living room, humming quietly, so Juno picked his dress and shoes up off the floor and went to join him.

Nureyev was sitting cross-legged on the couch with his laptop. The image of him sitting there was striking, with Nureyev completely naked except for his glasses, with lipstick stains all over his pale skin and his hair still a tangled mess around his face. Something about seeing Nureyev like that— sleepy and dishevelled, head tilted upward while he squinted through his glasses thoughtfully— had Juno wishing for more time or a different life, whatever it took to keep it.

It was so soft and intimate, Juno’s heart ached and he wanted nothing more than to drag Nureyev back to bed and kiss him senseless.

Instead, Juno pulled his dress back on, doing the belt up as he stopped to stand behind the couch. Bending at the waist, Juno wrapped his arms around Nureyev’s shoulders and pressed a hot, open-mouthed kiss to the side of Nureyev’s throat before looking at the computer screen.

It was a window full of different surveillance feeds for the hotel, and Juno raised an eyebrow. “What’re you up to now?”

Nureyev turned his head to capture Juno’s lips in a searching kiss, groaning when Juno opened for him. When he finally pulled away, he said, “I’m going to walk you out.”

“You might need to put on more clothes, Nureyev,” Juno said with a suggestive lilt, running a hand down Nureyev’s naked torso teasingly. He delighted in Nureyev’s shiver, pressing another kiss to his throat, aiming higher so his lips teased just below Nureyev’s jaw.

“No, my dear detective, I’ll be walking you out _my_ way,” Nureyev replied, shuddering again.

“And that means…?” Juno prompted, keeping his mouth pressed to the thief’s heated skin.

“You will be on your comms, and I will coordinate looping camera footage while I direct you through your escape,” Nureyev elaborated, and the excited tone to his voice brought a smile to Juno’s face. “The cab I’ve called will meet you where the stairway lets out on the street.”

Juno stood up to finish adjusting his dress, shifting the draping fabric to cover his front more securely. He made a mental note to give Nureyev a proper lecture about using knives on his underthings later.

“Sounds kinda fun. I’m game,” Juno eventually said, sitting down to put his boots back on.

Nureyev smiled and winked playfully at him. “That’s only partially why I want to do this.”

“Your other reasons?” Juno asked.

“I want to see how well we can work together, first of all,” Nureyev replied and then gave Juno a suggestive smile, showing off his teeth. “I also enjoy bossing you around a bit.”

Juno scoffed, even as heat flooded through him. Standing up, he crossed the distance to Nureyev and bent to give Nureyev a soft kiss. The thief sighed and lifted his hands to hold the back of Juno’s head gently, opening up for Juno’s tongue.

“Don’t get used to it,” Juno teased as he pulled away and stood back up. Putting his comms in his ear, he walked over to the door. “Let’s do this then.”

“Alright, love,” Nureyev began with a grin. “Down the hall to the left there is a door to the stairwell on the right. Once you’re on the landing, call me.”

Juno saluted, resolutely ignoring the curl of heat in his gut at the commanding tone. “Got it,” he said, hoping it sounded steadier than he felt.

Nureyev smirked knowingly. “Go no further than the landing though, Juno,” he added, the firmness in his tone hardening. “Can you manage that for me?”

Juno felt his face grow hot and bit his cheek, nodding quickly. Not trusting himself to speak, he muttered a quick _mm-hmm_ and turned fully toward the door.

“Juno,” Nureyev chastised lightly, and Juno dropped his forehead against the door.

“Yes, Nureyev, I can manage it,” he said, his voice a bit strained.

“Good girl,” Nureyev said, and Juno could hear the smirk in his voice at his shudder. “Let’s begin then.”

Juno quickly stepped out into the halway, leaning back against the door to take a deep breath. His pulse was jumping, with excitement about what they had done and what they were about to do, anxiety and anticipation for the heist to come. A grin overtook him, and Juno had to work not to laugh a bit out loud.

With that, he hurried down the hall, and slipped into the stairwell, already halfway through dialling Nureyev’s comms by the time he opened the door.

“Excellent work thus far, darling,” Nureyev purred as he answered.

“Knock it off,” Juno grumbled, smiling. “We have work to do.”

“Knock what off, dear detective?” he asked, sounding excessively innocent.

“You know what I mean,” Juno replied.

Nureyev sighed, and Juno could hear his eye-roll. “Fine, we can do this the boring way for the sensitive detective,” he complained and Juno snorted.

It went smoothly from there, Juno stopping and going all the way down the stairwell according to Nureyev’s directions. Soon enough, Juno found himself pushing through a door and out onto the street. Parked at the curb, there was a cab waiting, the driver barely blinking at Juno’s sudden appearance before he opened the back door.

“Mr Dahlia Rose?” the cabby confirmed as Juno stepped closer.

“That’s me,” he said with a laugh, and then into his commes, “Thank’s _Duke_ , I’ll see you tomorrow morning?”

Nureyev chuckled warmly, and Juno felt something pull in his chest. “Of course, my love,” he said softly, making Juno’s heart stutter. “I wouldn’t miss breakfast for the world.”

The comms beeped as Juno disconnected, and he gave the cabby his address as he slid into the backseat.

The drive was quiet, disturbed only by the sound of the cabby’s radio, leaving Juno to his thoughts. Juno looked out the window, watching Hyperion City roll by with a wistful smile.

He’d had an amazing evening, even with the emotional argument with Nureyev in the middle of it. Juno felt his chest squeeze as he thought about it, biting his lip as he leaned against the window. He thought about Nureyev saying “my love” all evening, about the feeling of Nureyev’s body under his as he dozed, about the quiet confession regarding the death of the man who made him.

“Stay the night?”

The memory of that quiet, vulnerable question, the hope that filled Nureyev’s tone, struck Juno in the chest. With sudden, intense clarity, he knew he would never be able to write the night off as a casual fling. It shouldn’t have been a surprise, given that Juno knew going into it that he was completely disinterested in sex unless his heart was in it. Juno didn’t do ‘flings.’

Juno knew he was in love with the thief, no matter how stupid that was, and for the brief seconds before the fear and heartach could catch up, he felt overwhelmed with joy.

“I do not want to retire, and I cannot retire to Mars, my love.”

Remembering that felt like a solid punch to the gut. Unshed tears stung his eyes and Juno hated himself for them. He knew the entire time that Nureyev would be leaving. He _knew_ he wouldn’t get to keep him.

The cab stopped outside his apartment, and the cabby shook his head when Juno went to transfer the creds.

“No need. Mr Rose has already paid the fare and tip,” the cabby said, smiling at Juno’s indignant expression.

“Of course he did,” Juno grumbled but still transferred the creds. “Take it.”

“Uh, Mr Rose insisted—”

“Take the money, it’s a tip,” Juno said sternly, and slid out as the cabby thanked him profusely.

Approaching the front door of his and Benten’s apartment, he was relieved to see that there were no lights on inside. Juno didn’t want to deal with Benten while he was so close to crying and his lipstick was smeared across his cheek.

Once he was inside, he worked on getting his boots off, the first one having him curse under his breath as he struggled to untie it. Juno was exhausted and sore, and he just wanted to go to bed.

The tears welled up too quickly for Juno to blink them away, and he pulled off his eyepatch before he really started crying.

The light from the kitchen clicked on, startling a small shriek out of Juno.

“Do you have _any_ idea what time it is, young lady?” Benten shouted, his tone teasing, but Juno was not in the mood for it.

“Har har, Ben. That’s super hilarious and not old at all,” Juno grumbled, trying to keep his tone light as he struggled with his boots, pointedly keeping his back turned toward his brother.

Of course, Benten could easily hear the barely restrained distress in Juno’s voice and he could hear Benten crossing the living room. “Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked.

Juno was frantic in his fight with his boots, needing to get them off so he could hide in the bathroom and get cleaned up. He couldn’t let Benten see him like that, especially not after what they had talked about before his night out.

By the time Juno had gotten free of this first boot, Benten was close enough to catch a glimpse of his messed up make-up and the hickeys on his shoulder and neck. Worst of all, he could see Juno’s unshed tears and Benten was instantly angry.

“Juno, what the fuck—”

“I know, Benten, I fucked up,” Juno said quickly, and he finally got the second boot off and hurried off to the bathroom. He locked himself inside, and when Benten began knocking, Juno shouted, “Go away, Benten! I honestly don’t need your lecture right now!”

“Lecture?” Benten asked, sounding legitimately confused and pausing long enough for Juno to answer.

However, Juno chose to try to ignore his brother, taking out a washcloth and wetting it to try and wash the make-up off. At Juno’s silence, Benten resumed his assault on the door.

“Did he hurt you?” Benten demanded, and Juno was completely thrown off by the question.

“What? No, Benten, I’m fine!” he replied, flinching when his voice cracked a bit. It didn’t sound convincing at all.

“Juno, seriously get out here! I will hunt him down right now and kill him if—”

Juno flung the bathroom door back open and dodged Benten’s fist, which was mid-knock. His brother was wild-eyed, looking so worried, and suddenly he understood his brother’s concern.

“It’s fine, Ben, seriously,” Juno insisted, grabbing Benten’s shoulders. “He didn’t— it’s not what you’re thinking.”

“Juno, you’re _crying_ —”

“I know! I know. Seriously, he was great, he was nice, he was just…” Juno trailed off, unsure of what to say to make Benten leave him alone about it. Juno knew what he looked like, what they discussed before his Not Date with Nureyev, and what it all meant in the long run. “It was fine.”

Benten did not look convinced. “You’re upset. It can’t be fine—”

“Yes, I’m upset!” Juno burst out with an explosive sigh, shaking his head. There was no point denying it, and he wasn’t getting out of the discussion before bed. “If you’re going to insist on doing this tonight, then help me with my make-up. I’m not talking about it while I look like this, and this lipstick is _terrible_.”

Benten crossed his arms with a frown before rolling his eyes. “Fine, go get out of that dress and meet me in the living room,” he said, turning away to head to the kitchen.

Juno got changed quickly, shivering at the soreness already settling in his hips, thighs, and ass. He knew he was going to be feeling it in the morning, but he didn’t regret a moment of that evening, even with how broken his heart was.

When Juno left his room, he found Benten set up with a tub of coconut oil, a few washcloths, and a bowl of water. There were also two separate pints of ice cream set off to the side on the coffee table and a stream playing quietly on the monitor.

“Ben,” Juno grumbled at the special treatment, sitting down heavily.

“Nuh-uh, Juno. You’re not going to bed like this,” Benten said sternly, warming up the coconut oil in his hands and smearing it over Juno’s face, particularly on his lips and eyes. “You know you can’t go to bed upset. I heard you in the bathroom the other day or whenever that was, by the way.”

“Sorry,” Juno mumbled, embarrassed that Benten had not only heard him, but was bringing it up at all.

“Why the hell are you apologizing to me?” Benten asked, pulling his hands away from Juno’s face to wipe them clean on one of the washcloths. “I said all of that shit to you, let you go to bed upset, and didn’t stick around to make sure you were okay the next morning. That was _super shitty_ of me.”

“Ben—”

“No, shut up. Just this once, let someone else take the blame,” Benten interrupted, picking up another cloth and wetting it a bit. As he began wiping the oil off of Juno’s face, he sighed. “So. What happened?”

Juno actually let out a laugh at that and gestured vaguely at himself. “Well, he took me out to dinner, then we went back to his hotel room, and then I’m pretty sure you can guess what happened after that,” Juno said, trying to be as vague as possible about it.

Benten pulled back and dropped the hand holding the washcloth into his lap. “What does that mean, Juno?” he asked, but it was obvious he knew exactly what Juno had meant.

“We went back to his hotel to talk,” Juno said, blushing hotly when Benten raised his eyebrow at him. “And then we did, uh, a bit more than talking. And then _a lot_ more than talking.”

“We had one rule! Which you agreed to!” Benten scolded, throwing the washcloth onto the coffee table.

“I know,” Juno said with a weak nod.

“It was ‘absolutely do not sleep with the criminal!’ And I even thought it would be easy for you to manage!” Benten continued, grabbing one of the pints of ice cream open and digging into it.

“Yeah, Ben, I remember,” Juno said miserably, grabbing his own ice cream and starting in on it a bit slower.

“And you still slept with him?”

“Yeup,” Juno replied sadly.

Benten made a disgusted noise, almost a gag, and said, “The man put _an entire sandwich_ in his pocket, Juno.”

Juno frowned at him. “He didn’t have the pockets on while we fucked, Ben.”

Benten made another disgusted noise and fell quiet, silently fuming into his ice cream. Then he gasped. “What about the Chastity Thong? Between it and the harness, you were supposed to stop and think!” he insisted.

Juno rolled his eyes. “First of all, the harness just got him _really_ excited, and second of all, I _did_ stop to think,” Juno said, smiling smugly at Benten’s disgusted face. “But then Rex… cut the thong… _off_ of me.”

Benten’s eyes widened. “Like, with scissors?”

Juno smirked at his brother. “With a knife.”

There were several moments of Benten just spluttering. “Wait, let me get this straight,” he finally said, his voice full of indignant shock. “Not only did you fuck _a criminal_ , but you let his _knife_ near your _lady bits_?”

“The knife didn’t get anywhere near my lady bits, Ben,” Juno replied, and he couldn’t quite keep the wistful note out of his voice.

“And you sound _disappointed_ about that!” Benten cried, horrified by this revelation, and Juno couldn’t pass up the opportunity to mess with his brother.

“So what if I am?” Juno asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Eugh, gross, I’m suing for damages,” Benten whined, glaring while Juno laughed.

After a while, Benten sighed and began mostly picking at his ice cream. “Joking aside, you don’t do casual,” he said softly, and Juno laughed humourlessly. “Like, I know how you’re very much about… needing those intense romantic feelings to get things going like that.”

Juno nodded, biting the inside of his cheek as tears welled back up. “Yeup.”

“And… you slept with him,” Benten continued slowly.

“Yeup,” he confirmed, laughing a bit.

“So… is he, like, staying then?” Benten asked.

“Nope,” Juno huffed, lifting a hand to wipe away a tear that was about to fall.

“Juno…” Benten started, but let himself trail off.

“It was so impulsive,” Juno elaborated, sadly shovelling some ice cream into his mouth. He let the ice cream melt before he said, “I just… I wanted to have whatever I could get, even if I couldn’t keep it, you know?”

Benten was quiet for a long time before pulling Juno into a tight hug, which Juno was more than happy to accept. With some adjusting, Benten got the two of them snuggled under a pile of blankets on the couch, their legs tangled and shoulders touching, leaning their heads together as they worked on their ice cream.

“I really know how to pick’em, huh?” Juno asked eventually.

Benten hummed a bit. “I mean, I hate him, but he seems to really care about you, and he _is_ hot, so I mean, other than the whole criminal and leaving thing, you didn’t do too bad.”

Juno snorted. “Seriously? You hate him?”

“‘Course I do, Juno. He wants to mess around with my brother! I mean, it’s been a struggle to hate him since his obvious disgust at seeing _me_ at that gala, but you know…” Benten trailed off before he asked, “So, you had a good time?”

Juno smiled, his face feeling hot again. “Yeah, dinner was great,” he said a bit wistfully. “Rex took me to that super fancy place, Rouge-something.”

Benten tensed. “Isn’t that where…?”

“Diamond proposed? Yeah,” Juno said with a sigh, smiling down at his ice cream. “But it was fine. It was… it was really nice.”

Juno finished his ice cream, and put the container down on the coffee table. He snuggled into the blankets and relaxed against Benten’s side even more. After a few minutes of quiet between them, he asked, “Why is it always like this for me?”

“Hm?” Benten hummed curiously around a mouthful of his ice cream and Juno shrugged.

“The more I want something, the more the universe does to fuck it up for me,” he answered, and it sounded pathetic to his own ears, and humiliation flooded him when Benten sighed.

“Do you want me to be honest with you, or just let you feel sorry for yourself?” he asked, and Juno let out a bark of laughter.

“Would my answer actually change what you were planning to do?” Juno asked.

“Nope!” Benten said cheerfully and took a deep breath. “Juno, you ignore red flags like it’s your job. You think the flags are decoration, a feature and not a bug. You’re _famous_ for it!”

Juno scoffed before sitting up to face Benten. “And you don’t?”

“Shut up, this isn’t about me, it’s about you,” Benten snapped, glaring. “Listen, you pegged him—”

“He actually pegged _me_ —”

“Ew, shut up, I’m being serious and you’re being gross,” Benten said with a cringe. “You _figured_ him out the instant you saw him. You knew he was bad news, and you knew he would leave since day one.”

Juno glared a bit but he couldn’t actually argue it.

Benten’s face and tone softened as he said, “So, it’s a lot less of the universe ‘ruining’ things and more just… the universe operating as normal.”

“Hmph,” was all Juno said before snuggling deeper into the blankets against Benten’s side.

“I just… really like Rex, Ben,” he confessed quietly, and sighed when Benten rested his cheek on the top of his head.

“He told you his name, then?” Benten asked, and Juno furrowed his brow, wondering if he slipped up somehow.

“Yeah, he told me everything, why— how did you know?” Juno asked.

“I remember you saying something about not calling him ‘Rex’ until you knew his actual name or something like that,” Benten said with a chuckle. “It was super dramatic, and I approved even if I called you an idiot about it.”

Juno laughed a bit and rolled his eyes. “Then yes, he told me his name, and no, I won’t tell you,” Juno said quickly, knowing that was going to be his next question.

For a bit, Benten just pouted into his ice cream until he smirked, meeting Juno’s gaze. “So… does he have an ass?”

Juno groaned loudly. “Goddamn it, Ben, seriously?”

Ben shrugged, scooping up the last big spoonful of his ice cream into his mouth and tossing the empty container onto the coffee table. “It’s a yesh’r no quesh’in, Juno,” he mumbled around the ice cream in his mouth.

“Ass isn’t all there is, Ben,” Juno said, and realizing that was enough of an answer on it’s own, he quickly added, “And it’s not like I really saw him from behind much!”

“Ah, so it’s just as I thought,” Benten hummed, nodding sagely. “No ass. Tragic.”

“Not confirming that assumption, but even if he did lack certain… _ass_ ets,” Juno started with a sly smirk. “He more than makes up for with his _amazing_ cock—”

“Oh! Gross!” Benten gagged pushing Juno away. “Both the terrible pun and the image of him fucking you in my head. Disgusting. I’m suing for damages!”

Juno laughed just before a huge yawn overtook him. “Can we finish this in the morning? I’m really tired.”

“Yeah, we can do that, Juno,” Benten said, his tone fond and Juno couldn’t help but smile.

With that, the two of them dozed off together on the couch, Juno’s head on his brother’s shoulder, and Benten’s arms wrapped loosely around him.


	5. you keep my secrets hope to die

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A heist, a stab in the dark, and a bleeding-heart confession...  
>  **[PLEASE NOTE THE NEW TAGS/CONTENT WARNINGS]**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **PLEASE HEED THE FOLLOWING CONTENT WARNINGS:**
> 
>   * Minor Character Death
>   * Mortal Injury
>   * Violence (show accurate)
>   * Severe Blood Loss, Burns
>   * Torture (Explicit, but show accurate)
>   * Sad Cliffhanger
> 

> 
> **PLEASE HEED ALSO THESE OTHER CONTENT WARNINGS OF ROUGHLY EQUAL IMPORTANCE:**
> 
>   * Major Chracter Death - Teef
>   * Martian Gentrification
>   * Martian Rabbit Oppression (implied)
>   * On The Job Domestics
>   * Couple's First Heist
> 

> 
> **A quick note about the author's knowledge re: blood loss, burns, etc:** I really don't know a whole lot, and ya girl got the squeams real bad trying to research that shit so I took _extreme artistic license with it_.

* * *

_**[NUREYEV]** _

Nureyev crouched next to Juno in the sewers, just below the grate Rita had helped identify as having the least amount of security near it, while simultaneously being close enough to the vault they intended to hit.

They had met at Nureyev’s new, much less reputable, hotel that morning to go over the plan again; wait until the change in security rotations, loop the camera feeds for twenty minutes, hit the vault and get out. Even if an alarm got tripped, they would have a solid five minutes to get back out before anyone would be able to find them. It was straightforward and easy, the closest thing to a guarantee Nureyev had ever worked with.

Nureyev had arranged to have the room for two nights, just long enough to complete the job and meet with one of his contacts to have the weapons disposed of. He wouldn’t need the room any longer than that, and again, the job was in-and-out, like stealing candy from a baby.

Juno, however, was not impressed.

“We’re not stealing candy, Nureyev!” Juno had snapped back at the hotel, pushing Nureyev back with his hand on his chest. Nureyev had pouted a bit, the kiss he had been angling for rebuffed completely. “And our mark isn’t  _ a baby _ . We’re stealing  _ weapons _ from  _ the mayor _ and a Piranha-faced  _ goon _ !”

“Semantics, dear,” Nureyev had replied, smoothing his palms down the front of Juno’s turtleneck. “Believe me when I say we’ll be back here by dinner, time enough to celebrate a heist well-done, and then we’re off to the Cerberus Province to have the weapons destroyed.”

Nureyev had kissed him soundly at that, swallowing Juno’s indignant squawk and sighing when Juno opened for him and relaxed into the embrace. Then the beautiful detective made an annoyed sound and pulled away.

“Now you’re just asking for disaster to happen, Nureyev,” Juno grumbled, pushing away to grab his coat. “It’s  _ arrogant _ . I don’t like it.”

“My goodness, my dear detective, I do love your commitment to complaining, but perhaps we could use some optimism?” Nureyev said with a fond smile and Juno sneered a bit.

“Sorry, Nureyev, I’ve got two settings and they’re both Insufferable Pessimist,” Juno deadpanned and Nureyev had laughed.

Now that they were there, however, Nureyev found himself hesitating. 

The sewers were incredibly dry, all things considered, though Juno said it would likely not be the case when they left. There was some sort of timed system which would periodically fill and drain the sewers to keep the local rodents from settling in. It was something that annoyed Juno but had very little to do with potentially having to wade out of the sewers chest-deep in raw sewage.

“Rich idiots think they’re too good for rabbits,” Juno had grumbled after explaining, and if Nureyev thought there was no way to be even more in love with him, he had been wrong. Juno Steel took moral offence with the wealthy regardless of what they did, even if it was something as simple as keeping oversized, territorial rodents from dwelling in their waste.

“Glass,” Juno murmured, snapping Nureyev out of his thoughts. “What are we waiting for?”

“Apologies, dear,” Nureyev said with a shaky chuckle, checking his knives again and then quickly redoing the braid in his hair. Then he adjusted his glasses and looked at Juno. “Remember the plan?”

“Kinda,” Juno sighed, and Nureyev almost choked.

They had  _ just _ gone over the plan as they walked, after going over the plan in the hotel room, and before that, they had gone over it the day prior. They had come up with the plan  _ together _ , and Juno only  _ kinda _ knew it?

“Juno,” he scolded, calculating if he should risk this leg of the job alone, or back out entirely and return when Juno was better prepared.

“I’m joking, Glass,” Juno said with a laugh. “You always this tense before a job?”

“Only when I stand to lose more than I’m willing to,” Nureyev answered honestly, and Juno bit the inside of his cheek, clearly embarrassed by the sincerity. Hitting a button on his comms to loop the security feeds, Nureyev nodded. “Let’s go then.”

“I’ve got your back,” Juno agreed, waiting for Nureyev to climb up ahead of him.

Objectively, Nureyev knew that Juno was capable, and since half of the plan was comprised of Juno’s ideas, there was no reason to doubt that the detective was more than equipped to be there. But now that Nureyev was faced with the reality of Juno going into a situation that could end in his death, he found himself distracted with his anxiety.

Their way into the vault from there was simple as Nureyev checked each door on their way in, looking for any traps but there hadn’t been any.  _ That _ was concerning to him, but he didn’t mention it to Juno. Doing so would only distract the detective, and he couldn’t have that. Nureyev glanced back at the private eye while he checked a doorway for traps, taking in the way he hung close to him, his eye scanning the hall while glancing at his own comms to double-check that the feeds were looping properly.

Nureyev couldn’t help the way his gaze lingered on the detective either, especially considering the fit of his black pants and black turtleneck. The thigh-holster for his blaster and black gloves were also something of a distraction if Nureyev let his gaze stray, so he kept his focus on moving forward.

“The vault should be just through here,” Nureyev whispered as he checked the next door for traps. Once he confirmed the door to be free of any sort of danger from that side, he carefully opened it and stepped inside.

The vault was a decently sized room with several shelves of various valuable items. Checking his watch, Nureyev hummed. “We’ve made excellent time, Juno!” he began as he turned to look at the detective. “So let’s grab the— Juno.  _ Dear _ . Where, might I ask, is your glove?”

Juno jumped and looked sheepishly down at the bare hand holding his blaster. “The glove felt wrong on the trigger,” he explained briefly and Nureyev couldn’t help the eye-roll or the sigh.

“You need to wear  _ both  _ of the gloves, Juno,” he scolded and Juno just shook his head.

“I’m not putting the glove back on,” he said resolutely. “I’ll only touch my blaster, okay?”

Nureyev huffed, annoyed by the sudden stubbornness over something silly. “We don’t have time to argue this. Let’s grab the weapons and go.”

Juno pointed out the cases and Nureyev was still surprised at how small they apparently were. Juno had told Nureyev just how compact the tyrannical leadership over Brahma had made their Guardian Angel System, but he hadn’t quite believed it until he saw it. They hardly needed two bags to carry them out, but they shared the load nonetheless.

Nureyev checked his watch again and decided that there was plenty of time for him to window shop. There were several shelves of blasters, knives, and jewellery to choose from, and Nureyev happily let his eyes— and sticky fingers— travel over the knives and one of the blasters.

Blasters were never Nureyev’s thing, but for the lady huffing impatiently behind him, however… 

It was certainly prettier than the blaster sitting in Juno’s holster, he reasoned as he took it off the shelf and slipped it into his bag.

“Glass, c’mon. Let’s go,” Juno snapped, shifting uncomfortably as he waited.

Nureyev merely made a tutting noise as he continued to peruse the shelves of jewellery, pausing at a tray of bracelets. “Yes, yes, dear. In a moment,” he replied dismissively, absently waving at Juno over his shoulder.

“We don’t have  _ time _ for this, Glass.

Nureyev smirked over his shoulder at the detective, allowing him to see him pocket a bracelet and it’s matching necklace. Juno let out an affronted noise and spluttered a bit.

“You  _ do  _ realize I could still arrest you, right?” Juno threatened. At that, Nureyev hummed thoughtfully before grinning toothily at the detective.

“Have I told you how much I love it when you get all morally outraged like that?” he asked with an eyebrow raised, his voice barely more than a purr. “It does  _ a lot  _ for me.”

Juno sucked in a shaky breath, nostrils flaring as he bit the inside of his cheek. Shaking his head sharply, he returned to glaring.

“Glass, this is not the time for that,” he said, though he sounded slightly breathless. When Nureyev’s watch chirped a five-minute warning, Juno turned to reach for the door, snapping, “Seriously, Glass,  _ let’s go _ !”

Nureyev realized a moment too late that Juno’s hand was still bare, and no longer holding his blaster. Still, just as Juno grabbed the doorknob, Nureyev hissed, “Juno, wait—”

Juno gasped the moment his hand touched it, wrenching his hand back just as the lights turned red around them and alarms began to blare.

“ _ Juno _ ,” Nureyev scolded, but the detective was pointedly keeping his back to Nureyev as he inspected something on his palm.

“So…” Juno began slowly, obviously trying to keep his tone light. “I  _ probably _ need a tetanus shot, and… we’re kinda… in trouble?”

Nureyev pinched the bridge of his nose just below his glasses, and let out a low sound. “Oh,  _ are we _ ?”

“Hey!” Juno said as he turned to glare. “Don’t act like this is only  _ my  _ fault.”

Nureyev scoffed at that and turned back to the trays of bracelets to grab something he had been eyeing before Juno’s blunder. “Who was it that went and opened the boobytrapped door with his  _ bare hand _ , Juno dear?” he asked sourly, zipping up his bag and slinging it over his shoulders. “It certainly was not me.”

When he turned to face Juno, the detective was a glorious vision of indignance and bratty petulance. If Nureyev wasn’t so annoyed with him, he would have kissed the detective.

“It was supposed to be in-and-out, Glass!” Juno groaned. “None of this browsing! If you were planning to go  _ shopping _ , you should’ve maybe  _ told me _ ?”

Nureyev only stared at him for a moment, making a sceptical noise in the back of his throat. “Juno,” he said flatly. “I am  _ a thief. _ ”

“Yeah, I  _ know _ that Glass, but I figured—”

“And I  _ told _ you to let me handle all the doors—”

“How was I supposed to know—”

“No, enough,” Nureyev said with a huff. “I’ll win this argument later—”

“ _ What?! _ You’ll win— ?”

“ —and we need to get out of here, and fast,” he finished, checking the door one last time before opening it and hurrying into the hall, Juno following closely behind him.

As they hurried through the halls, they began to hear snatches of conversation from approaching thugs, shouting orders to find the intruders. The goons were getting closer, and Nureyev and Juno were running out of time.

“We’re not gonna make it, Glass,” Juno hissed, and Nureyev had nothing to say to that.

“Boss wants him taken straight to her!”

Juno cursed. “The goddamn Piranha!”

Nureyev glanced back at Juno and his heart stopped at the naked fear on his face. They couldn’t both make it out, and both of them getting caught was not an option. When it came down to choosing between the two of them, Nureyev knew what he  _ should _ do.

When trouble arises, he disappears. That had been his way for as long as he could remember, and it had kept him alive.

He knew what he  _ should _ do.

Nureyev grabbed Juno’s wrist and pulled him into a small alcove, swinging his bag off of his back and pushing it into Juno’s hands. “Take it,” he said firmly. “And give me your comms.”

Juno looked up at him, confused and absolutely beautiful, and Nureyev’s heart ached. “Nur— ?”

“Hush, love, give me your comms,” Nureyev insisted again, and Juno handed it over almost robotically. Nureyev smiled winningly at Juno as he punched in a set of coordinates. “This is my friend. He’ll help destroy the weapons—”

Juno made a sound, something that fell somewhere between a sceptical laugh and a sob. “N— Glass, don’t be stupid!” he hissed, and when Nureyev looked at him, he saw real anger in his expression. “She’ll kill you!”

“You don’t know that, love,” Nureyev replied with a shake of his head, pushing the comms back into his hands. Nureyev had very little confidence in his odds, but he wouldn’t tell Juno that. “I stand a better chance of talking my way out than you do.”

Juno shook his head and hissed, “I don’t like this, Glass. We can figure something else out, something that doesn’t involve playing right into that sociopath’s hands—”

“I’ll be fine, my love,” Nureyev said, pressing his fingers gently over Juno’s lips. “I’ll meet you at the hotel before you know it.”

Juno stared at him, his visible eye glassy with unshed tears, and when Nureyev moved to turn away, Juno grabbed the straps of the holster for his knives. There was a storm of emotions on the detective’s face, and Nureyev felt swept away by it; completely bowled over and left stranded out at sea.

Juno Steel was so handsome, and Peter Nureyev couldn’t remember how to breathe in the face of that.

“You better,” Juno finally said in a low voice before he pulled Nureyev down to capture his lips in something desperate and needy. Nureyev sighed and immediately deepened the kiss, opening for Juno’s tongue and cradling his face with one hand.

“Wait here for a few minutes, then get to the sewers,” Nureyev whispered quickly as he pulled away. “If I’m not back at the hotel by tomorrow morning, call my friend. Do not wait for me.”

Nureyev did not wait for Juno to respond before he left the alcove and darted back down the hall in the direction they had come. 

There was a knife ready in his hand when he turned the next corner, and it found a home briefly in the side of a thug’s throat. Pulling it back out, he dodged the spray of blood and the meaty paw of another large thug, opening that one’s inner thigh with an efficient and deep slice of the knife in Nureyev’s other hand.

Thug number three was still barrelling forward and had not registered the veritable lake of blood that Nureyev had just formed in the hall and slipped, practically slitting his own throat as Nureyev slashed his blade through the air. There was a fourth goon coming at him, and Nureyev laughed at his approach, flipping the blade in his hand and throwing it.

The knife sunk home in the thug’s throat and he stumbled, choking wetly and stupidly reaching up to pull the blade out. Nureyev was hopeful for a moment that perhaps he could flee, catch up to Juno and they could run together.

Something hit the side of his head hard enough for his vision to white-out. He managed to stay standing, but he was thrown against the wall and dropped his other knife. When his vision returned, he saw that the hit had come from a baton in the hands of a thug who had arrived on the scene from behind him. There were two other men in the hall as well, and all three converged on him.

Nureyev was able to dodge the first few hits, but pinned as he was against the wall, one finally landed against his ribs and he lost his feet. Winded, he fell to his knees and through sheer luck, his hand found the blade he dropped. Nureyev slashed blindly, still gasping for breath, and he took a steel-toed boot to the stomach for his efforts.

He wheezed as he finished falling to the ground, and distantly he heard the sound of crackling electricity before every nerve in his body lit up in agony. Nureyev wasn’t even sure how long he’d been convulsing on the ground before he was able to register that there was some sort of pronged baton pressed into his side sending a vicious current through him. 

Just as he was about to blackout, the thug backed off and Nureyev immediately gagged, bringing up the meager breakfast he had eaten that morning. He felt like his entire body was on fire, every single cell vibrating and crackling, and his lungs  _ burned _ as he sucked in air desperately. Nureyev could smell something burning, and after a few dazed moments, he realized it was his own skin where the prongs had been held.

“Well, gentlemen,” Nureyev began, his voice hoarse as he tried to push himself up from the floor. “That was certainly exhilarating—”

The thug sneered cruelly and caught Nureyev with the baton again.

He blacked out that time, and when he came to, he was being dragged into a room somewhere in the vault and shackled to a chair. 

Nureyev squinted around the room, realizing his glasses were missing, which didn’t surprise him too much. He didn’t miss when Piranha entered the room, however, and smiled blandly at her.

“Ah, the lady in charge!” he greeted, his tone sickeningly sweet. “Perhaps we can come to an understanding? Criminal to criminal?”

“Oh, I’m sure you’d like that, huh?” she said as she dismissed the goons. Piranha pulled out her comms then, hitting several buttons. “But I’m under strict orders to deal with you how I see fit.”

Nureyev felt his stomach drop but kept the placid smile on his face. “I’m sure you wouldn’t want to anger your boss—”

“You don’t seem to get it, Pretty Boy, do you?” The Piranha said, give him a wide, cruel smile. Pulling another chair closer to Nureyev, she spun it and sat on it backwards. “I get paid whether you make it outta here alive or not, see. But I get paid double by both employers if you  _ don’t _ .”

Nureyev dropped his smile. “Mr O’Flaherty—”

“ — Ain’t too impressed with betrayal, Glass,” she interrupted with a knowing sneer.

Nureyev kept his expression schooled to one of slight confusion. “I haven’t the faintest—”

“You’ve got guts, Pretty Boy, I’ll give you that,” she laughed. “O’Flaherty knows about your little  _ fling _ with the P.I., see?”

Nureyev rolled his eyes, even as dread settled into his gut like ice. “What, getting my breakfast every morning from a licensed establishment is a fling, now?”

“You call this breakfast?” she asked, her voice absolutely delighted as she turned her comms toward Nureyev.

The ice in his gut turned sharp as he watched a slightly distorted video of him and Juno making out in the doorway of his hotel room. From the angle and the distortion, it was obvious that the camera had been set up in the peep-hole in the guestroom door across the hall.

“I’d say this looks more like a midnight snack! Oh, you should see my favourite part,” she said with a grin as she turned the comms back to herself to hit some more buttons. “About two and a half hours later…”

Nureyev knew what he would see before she even showed him, knew it would show Juno leaving his hotel room, dishevelled and very clearly illustrating what they had been doing in that room. What he didn’t expect was the way Juno smiled when he leaned back against the door, a smile that Nureyev had yet to be graced with by the lady himself. The Piranha paused the video on that frame and let out a mock-dreamy sigh.

“Look at that. How romantic. Just makes a girl wanna puke,” she cooed. “I’ll say, you must have very impressive stamina if all you did was play tonsil-hockey and bump pelvises, Pretty Boy.”

Nureyev schooled his features into something cockier, smirking wide and said, “I am quite an adept lover, I’ve been told.”

Piranha hummed, shutting off her comms and standing back up. “I’m sure. But we know your little toy is here, see? He tripped the alarms with his DNA.”

Nureyev barely resisted the urge to glare at her as she walked away, grinding his teeth.

She stopped at a table nearby, picking up the knives he had used earlier in the hallway and testing their balance. “O’Flaherty was shocked to see the lady P.I. with you, see?” she said with a laugh. “My people had seen you out with the pretty one.”

Nureyev twitched at her words, ready to snarl something in defence of his love, but beat back that urge. Showing her anything would give her an advantage, and he was lucky she hadn’t been looking at him when she said it at all.

“I can see it, though, goin’ for the matching set ‘n all— well, I mean…” she began, and looked over her shoulder with a knowing smile as she trailed off. “They  _ were _ a matching set until I had my little playdate with the meddling P.I.”

Nureyev couldn’t keep his neutral expression, despite his years of training, and Piranha grinned. He couldn’t compartmentalize Juno Steel, and that was dangerous.

“But you didn’t actually score the set, did you? You aimed high and had to settle, huh?” she hummed, and Nureyev had to take a deep breath to keep from snapping. “The P.I. cleans up nice, though, even with the work I did—”

“Is there going to be a point to any of this?” Nureyev interrupted, internally cursing himself.

She moved so quickly, Nureyev almost didn’t see the knife in time and barely dodged it, earning himself a slash across his cheek that pulled a hiss from him but nothing more.

“Don’t interrupt me, Glass,” she growled, and Nureyev laughed. Piranha raised a lip in a sneer as she pulled out her blaster and pressed it directly between his eyes, which only made him laugh harder.

“I’m not seeing the joke, Pretty Boy,” she snarled and Nureyev just smirked.

“Oh, but I do,” he said, giving her a once-over and hissing when she pressed the blaster against his forehead so hard he had to tilt his head back.

“Should put a bolt through your empty skull right now,” she growled, and Nureyev rolled his eyes.

“Oh please, we’re both professionals here,” he said condescendingly. “Well, I am at least. Regardless, if you wanted me dead that quickly, I would have been killed out in the hall.”

“Shootin’ you like this would still accomplish my goals,” she said with a shrug.

“Those being?” he questioned.

The Piranha moved her blaster, pressing it beneath Nureyev’s chin and forcing him to look up at the ceiling. “The meddling P.I. didn’t stay outta things like he was told to, so he needs to be taught a lesson, see?” she explained. “O’Flaherty won’t let me kill him, or his brother, but I need to send a message somehow.”

“He’s not here anymore,” Nureyev said, desperately hoping for that to be true.

The Piranha cackled at that. “Then I’ll scatter your dismembered corpse all over his little cafe during the breakfast rush,” she said slowly, and Nureyev didn’t doubt for a moment that she was being completely serious with that threat. “But I’m thinkin’ he never left, and he’ll be coming through that door any moment, Glass. He’s predictably noble like that.”

“You would settle for killing me and letting him find my body?” Nureyev asked sceptically, because at the end that just didn’t seem like Piranha’s style.

“If I have to. But for now, I’m gonna have  _ fun _ while I wait for our little lady, see?” she said, taking the tip of the blade and dragging it along the sharp line of his jaw and grinning at the blood the began to drip for the gash. Nureyev refused to give her the satisfaction of a reaction. “Then I’m gonna gut you while he watches.”

When Nureyev didn’t respond to the taunt, nor the wound she just opened on his face, she just grinned. “Let’s hope your P.I. doesn’t keep you waitin’ too long.”

Nureyev only hoped that Juno had listened and wouldn’t return for him.

* * *

_**[JUNO]** _

Juno wasn’t sure how long he sat in that alcove, waiting for the sounds to subside. His thoughts were going a million miles a minute, trying to process what he had heard and line it up with what he was expected to do.

He knew the right thing to do was leave, go back to the hotel, and contact Nureyev’s “friend”. But every time Juno thought about leaving, he would just hear the crackle of electricity and the awful noise Nureyev made.

Shaking his head, Juno got ready to leave the alcove. He would trust Nureyev to figure out how to escape; if anyone could manage it, Nureyev could.

Juno almost made it back to the sewer grate, the trek slow-going as he had to assess the blindspots of the security cameras in real-time. Just before he reached the grate, he heard voices approaching in a hurry, and he had to quickly duck into another alcove. It was full of crates, which he used for cover to wait out the voices, holding his breath.

As the group passed, their radios crackled. “Keep an eye out for the detective.” It was the Piranha, and she knew Juno was there. Just below her voice, Juno could hear the quiet sounds of someone’s pained gasping and he knew it was Nureyev. “He’s still here somewhere.”

Just before the radio cut, he heard the beginnings of a stifled groan and felt his insides turn to lead as he realized several things all at once. One, the Piranha knew he and Nureyev were working together. Two, she was  _ waiting  _ for Juno. Three, she would torture Nureyev either until Juno showed up or she got bored and put a laser bolt through his head. Lastly, he knew that if he left, he would put Benten and Rita in immediate danger.

He knew the “right” thing to do. 

They both knew the risks when they went into the job, and he knew if the roles were reversed, he would want Nureyev to get out and finish it. Juno could pick Benten and Rita up, maybe even Mick, and take them with him to dispose of the weapons. They could hide out in the Cerberus Province, or lay low in Olympus Mons for a while after, and come back when the heat had died down a bit.

Nureyev knew the risk. Nureyev  _ told him  _ to leave. Juno knew what he had to do.

Taking his blaster out of its holster at his thigh, Juno began sneaking back through the halls, away from the sewer grate.

Turning a corner, he found himself standing amongst four bodies and  _ a lot  _ of blood. Juno knew it was Nureyev’s handiwork and couldn’t help the little flutter of admiration at his skill, even if it was alarming. There was a substantial trail of bloody footprints and the mark of something large being dragged leading away from the scene. He carefully followed the tracks, staying out of the view of the cameras and keeping his ears peeled for any patrolling goons.

Juno finally arrived at an open doorway, and inside he could hear Nureyev talking. Relief flooded Juno as he carefully walked up, making sure not to make any sound to alert the Piranha to his presence.

As he stepped up to the open door, he peeked around the doorjamb in time to watch the Piranha pistol-whip Nureyev with her blaster. The hit seemed to catch him by surprise and he was thrown in his chair, leaning over the arm of it while the Piranha laughed. Juno’s gut clenched when Nureyev didn’t immediately sit back up, and it took everything in him to not jump in, blaster firing when she grabbed a fistful of Nureyev’s hair and hauled him back up.

There were several conflicting emotions roiling in Juno’s gut with the way Nureyev looked up at the Piranha. He was looking up at her, eyes sharp and bright, wearing the most dangerous smile Juno had ever seen on a person, his sharp fox’s teeth coated in blood.

Juno was mostly frustrated that Nureyev would taunt her with his grin like that so brazenly, but he couldn’t deny just how good Nureyev looked in his own element.

But Juno couldn’t ignore all of the open wounds on Nureyev’s cheeks, jaw, arms and chest. Not to mention the horrible burn on his stomach, likely from whatever was used to electrocute him.

The Piranha was losing her patience, that was obvious by the way she paced in front of Nureyev. “Lose the grin, Pretty Boy,” she snapped, and Nureyev snorted.

“People often smile at clowns,” Nureyev replied sweetly, and was rewarded with another hit, this one throwing Nureyev hard enough that his chair tipped over with a loud crash. Juno nearly rushed in, but when he looked down at the thief, he was looking right at him, shaking his head subtly.

Juno wasn’t sure what that meant, or what Nureyev was trying to say. Did he want Juno to wait? Or perhaps leave? Since Juno refused to do the latter, he buckled down to do the former.

The Piranha grabbed Nureyev by his hair again, as well as the arm of the chair, and dragged him back up with a loud screech of the chair’s legs against the tiles.

“You got quite the mouth on you, Glass,” she snarled, twisting the fist she had in his hair harder and shaking his head roughly.

When she released him, Nureyev made a humming noise while he obviously moved his tongue around in his mouth. He made a face after a bit and turned his head to the side to spit out a thick glob of blood and two teeth; a sharp incisor and an even sharper canine.

“Yes, I’ve been told it’s part of my charm,” Nureyev said eventually, somehow still managing to sound bored. Then he smirked. “I’m also quite talented in other respects as well.”

The Piranha sneered and lifted her blaster to Nureyev’s face.

It was set to a lethal charge, and her finger was poised on the trigger. “This is losing its appeal quickly,” she growled. “Maybe your little lady should find your corpse instead.”

Everything in Juno screamed, his heart stuttering to a halt with the muzzle of the Piranha’s blaster pressed viciously against Nureyev’s forehead. It forced him to crane his head back, leaving him with no way to even try to dodge it should she move to pull the trigger.

Juno couldn’t stay out of it.

Lifting his blaster, he shot a bolt to stun, the blast hitting her in the shoulder with enough force to knock her own blaster out of her hand. The Piranha didn’t go down, however, and without hesitation, she ducked behind Nureyev and lifted one of Nureyev’s own knives to his throat.

Juno froze as she pressed the knife against Nureyev’s throat until a new trail of blood trickled down his neck. Nureyev hissed a bit and leaned back to ease some of the pressure.

“See, what’d I tell you, Glass?” she said with a loud laugh. “The former deadeye, here to save the thief. It’s like a fairytale.”

“I told you to leave,” Nureyev said sternly to Juno, ignoring the Piranha entirely.

“Yeah, well, you can thank me later,” Juno quipped, annoyed that Nureyev would scold him for saving his life. Then he turned his attention to the Piranha. “How the hell are you still standing, Piranha?

“Got me a nice vest here, see? Blaster-proof,” she replied and Juno could only see her eye around Nureyev’s head. “You’re gonna have to pack something a lot fatter than that bad boy for even a lethal charge to get through, P.I.”

Juno glared at that, the hand holding his blaster shaking a bit with his anger.

“Now, how ‘bout you lower that blaster and we talk like proper adults,” the Piranha said after a few moments.

When Juno didn’t immediately follow her request, she pulled up on the blade at Nureyev’s throat, forcing him to scramble up in his seat so he could tilt his head and throat to save himself from having his throat slit. Nureyev was standing as much as his shackled ankles and wrists would allow him, and the trail of blood down his throat ran a bit thicker.

“C’mon, P.I. He ain’t gonna be able to hold this position for too long,” the Piranha taunted, but Nureyev was shaking his head at him again, the movement subtle and only perceptible to Juno because he was watching the thief so closely.

Juno was torn. There was nothing to stop her from giving Nureyev a close shave if he dropped his blaster, but she was too protected where she currently crouched behind Nureyev. Juno may have attempted that shot when he had both eyes, but even with all his practice, he didn’t quite trust his abilities. But she also had to have known that unless she had some form of back-up, she couldn’t kill Nureyev just yet or Juno would put her down.

Lowering his blaster, Juno barely restrained his sigh of relief when the Piranha allowed Nureyev to sit back down.

“I told you to leave, Juno,” Nureyev repeated, his voice strained with pain.

“Yeah, Glass, and you also said you could talk your way out of this,” Juno snapped.

“It doesn’t matter what—”

“Don’t, Glass. It  _ does _ matter,” Juno interrupted. ‘You matter,’ was what he wanted to say, but he refused to give that sort of ammunition to the Piranha. “And what, I leave her and she tortures you until her goons pick me up and drag me back anyway? Or grab my brother? Rita?”

The Piranha laughed and leaned out around Nureyev to meet Juno’s eye. She was still too hidden behind Nureyev’s head, and Juno wouldn’t shoot until he was absolutely sure he wouldn’t hit Nureyev, too.

“The P.I. gets it, Pretty Boy. You ain’t got many friends, huh? That’s smart in our line of work,” she said. “We only have ourselves to look out for, so no one can have somethin’ sticky like leverage on us.”

Juno tried his best to ignore the Piranha, and just looked at Nureyev, meeting his gaze and searching for  _ something _ . Instructions? Faith? A magic button they could press and return to that quiet moment in the hotel room two nights ago, just before Benten called and broke the spell between them?

Nureyev glanced down at the blaster hanging at Juno’s side lightning fast before glancing at the Piranha. Juno raised his eyebrow subtly and quietly switched his blaster to lethal charges.

“Are you payin’ attention, P.I.?” the Piranha barked at him, and Nureyev hissed in pain when she carved another jagged line across his chest.

“Cut it out, I’m paying attention!” Juno shouted, ready to yell again when she moved to carve yet another line into him.

She stopped, and he could tell by what he could see of her ugly face that she was grinning behind Nureyev’s head. Juno was shaking with rage and couldn’t do anything about it until she moved further into view. Her hand hung lazily over his shoulder now, the knife no longer cutting him, but still too close to his throat and chest for Juno’s comfort.

“Too bad stupid little private eyes don’t think like we do, huh Glass?” she said with mock concern. “They make all these messy little connections everywhere they go; keep family around, make friends. Did you know the little lady has a friend he’s known his whole life, Glass?”

Mention of Mick chilled Juno’s blood, but he didn’t let it distract him. He was watching for an opening and he would not miss it, his trigger finger ready.

The Piranha shifted around behind Nureyev, her face in full view as she made eye-contact with Juno, grinning broadly with her countless unsettlingly sharp teeth. His moment was coming, he just had to wait until she looked away so he could lift his blaster.

“And look at you, risking it all for a thief who wouldn’t even do the same for you,” she said, her voice full of mocking admiration.

“Juno, that’s not—” Nureyev began, but cried out when the Piranha carved another line on his chest, though this one crossed vertically through the other gashes.

“Shut it, Glass,” she snarled into his ear before smirking at Juno. “He’s using you, P.I. You can’t be stupid enough to think he actually  _ cared _ about you, eh? Your own  _ fiance  _ dumped you, didn’t he?”

Juno felt like he was in free-fall, his stomach in his throat and his heart pounding in his ears. “What?” he hissed through his teeth and she laughed.

“I had you followed for months, P.I. A girl  _ learns _ things, especially when her marks are so, so messy,” the Piranha bragged. “Remind me again how long he put up with you?”

He chanced a glance at Nureyev, and his gaze was waiting for him; steady, strong, supportive. Meeting the Piranha’s eyes again, Juno glared.

“Fuck you,” he bit out, and the Piranha laughed and pulled the knife up tight against Nureyev’s throat again. Nureyev scrambled to stand as much as he could to avoid having anything vital cut.

“Say it, Cyclops! So the whole class can hear,” she said around a maniacal laugh. “C’mon, P.I., I ditched most of my research on you when I got bored of you.”

“Fine! Fine,” Juno started, anger boiling in his gut as she didn’t take the knife away from Nureyev’s throat. “We were engaged for three years. Happy?”

The Piranha hummed and shook her head, dragging the blade slowly across Nureyev’s skin. “That didn’t answer the question, P.I.,” she replied, her tone almost sing-song.

“We knew each other from the police academy,” Juno finally said, feeling gutted by the forced confession. Saying it out loud in front of Nureyev felt like he was being dragged over hot coals. When she didn’t remove the knife, Juno shouted, “I gave you your answer, now knock it off!”

The Piranha eased off with the knife and Nureyev settled in the chair, panting a bit. Juno looked at his face again, and Nureyev was still meeting his gaze, steady and open, though there was a sadness there now. The pity smarted, but Juno figured they could hash that out later when they got out of there.

“So, give or take 'bout ten years? Fifteen, tops?” she clarified with a low whistle. “See what I was saying about all those messy connections Glass? The little lady here has so many people just  _ out there _ with all of his dirty little secrets!”

Juno looked back at the Piranha and fingered the trigger of his blaster, just waiting for her to look away from him. He just needed her to look away so he could lift his blaster before she could lift the knife.

“But you and I, Glass? We’re smarter than that. We don’t get close like that,” she said, looking at Nureyev from the corner of her eyes. “We’re smart enough to  _ deal with  _ people. Those messy connections. Ain’t we?”

The shift in her gaze was slight, but it would have to be enough. It was only a matter of time before she got bored of toying with them and finally finished her work. But Juno also knew it was a race to aim and shoot before she caught him and painted the walls with Nureyev’s blood.

It was risky— scratch that, it was stupid and dangerous. It was beyond reckless, and it wasn’t even a shot he would have been confident of when he had both of his eyes with her so close to Nureyev’s head.

When Juno looked at Nureyev again, however, Nureyev’s eyes were waiting for him. They were so open, so trusting and bright, and Juno felt a surge of confidence go through him. If they wanted to get out of there alive, he had to dispatch the Piranha, and Nureyev believed in him. Juno got him into that mess with his bonehead move in the vault, yet Nureyev still had faith in him.

The next handful of seconds played out in slow motion for Juno.

He lifted his arm as he looked back at the Piranha, aiming as her eyes flicked back to Juno. Nureyev let out a hiss, arching and straining away from the Piranha as Juno took aim, exposing more of her head and getting out of Juno’s way. She cackled as Juno pulled the trigger, not even moving her hand with the knife near Nureyev’s throat.

The charge hit her right between the eyes and Nureyev let out a small sound, flinching and slumping forward as the Piranha was knocked back, the knife in her hand clattering to the floor next to her where she fell.

Both of them were breathing hard in the sudden quiet, and Nureyev chuckled weakly, flinching with a small, pained sound.

“Fantastic shot, my love,” Nureyev said, and his smile was all wrong, shaky and missing two teeth as it was, but Juno would take it.

Juno hurried forward, making quick work of the shackles binding Nureyev to the chair. The thief hissed in pain as his wrists and ankles were released and blood rushed to his deadened fingertips and toes.

“Juno, you have to go without me—”

Juno doesn’t even think about it before he’s kissing Nureyev, silencing his protests with a desperate sound of his own. When he pulled back, Nureyev was smiling sadly, his mouth red and wet.

“Shut up, we’re getting you out of here,” Juno all but growled, stopping to pick Nureyev’s knife up off the ground where it lay by the Piranha’s hand. There was another knife on the ground under the chair, and Juno scooped it up as well.

“I’ll slow you down, Juno—” Nureyev began to argue, sounding breathless. When Juno looked at him as he came back around the chair, it was obvious he was in a great deal of pain. 

Nureyev needed medical attention, and fast.

“I’m not leaving you behind, Glass, so  _ drop it _ ,” Juno snapped, grabbing Nureyev’s hands and hauling him out of the chair. Slinging Nureyev’s arm around his shoulders, Juno held him tightly around his waist.

In his other hand, he held his blaster, still set to kill.

They took their escape slowly, Nureyev limping along beside him, stumbling and breathing wetly. They were almost to the grate again when Nureyev stumbled, Juno barely catching him before he fell into view of the security cameras.

“Juno,” Nureyev said, his voice weak and shaky. When Juno looked at Nureyev again, he noticed how pale and clammy his face appeared, and he knew in his gut that something was very wrong. The thief smiled at him gently, teeth and lips bright red, and he added, “Leave me.”

Juno grit his teeth, ignoring the feeling and definitely ignoring Nureyev’s command. “Shut up, Glass.”

With some difficulty, they slipped through the grate. There was water in the sewers, about a foot deep and getting deeper, which wasn’t great given how many open wounds Nureyev had all over his body now.

Nureyev’s knees gave out suddenly, and he almost fell into the water before Juno caught him.

“Whoa, Glass, watch… it…” Juno trailed off, finally noticing just how wet and warm the arm he’d used to support Nureyev was, as well as that whole side of his torso. Touching the cloth of his turtleneck with his bare hand, he pulled it back to find it covered in blood.

“Nureyev, what… ?” Juno began weakly, before frantically searching Nureyev’s body.

None of the injuries he knew of should have caused that much blood loss. They were all just deep cuts, but nothing terribly bad. The worst injury Juno had clocked, other than the potential head injury and the knocked-out teeth, was the electrical burn on his gut. 

Juno didn’t find the wound so much as his finger nearly pressed into it as he felt along Nureyev’s ribs; it was a hole, situated perfectly between two ribs, and Juno could feel each heartbeat pump more blood out of it. His thoughts whirled around, trying to place when it could have happened and he nearly crumpled when he realized; Nureyev’s gasp, just before Juno shot the Piranha, her maniacal laughter, the two knives on the floor.

It was a deep, nasty wound that had been bleeding untreated for far too long. Nureyev would need treatment immediately.

“N-no,” he whispered, cursing himself. “Nureyev, I’m s-so sorry, I’m going to fix this, okay? I’m sorry—”

“Hush, my love. She got me just before you pulled the trigger,” he managed to say. “I didn’t know she had another knife. You couldn’t have known.”

“W-we can fix this,” Juno insisted again, looking around. He needed to wrap the wound, but there was nowhere for Nureyev to sit or lay down with the water rising as it was. “We have to get back up to the street.”

“I won’t make it—”

“Shut up,” Juno snapped, furious now. “We’re getting out here, both of us, and I’m  _ fixing this _ .”

Juno hauled Nureyev with him through the sewers. When Nureyev’s stumbling got worse with the rising water levels, Juno managed to sling Nureyev over his shoulders.

“Oh, you’re so strong, Juno,” Nureyev said weakly, aiming for flirty, but it was weak and he sounded barely conscious.

When they finally reached the entrance to the sewers, Nureyev became too heavy to carry any further, and Juno was calling Rita on his comms before he'd even finished putting Nureyev down. Juno rolled the thief onto his uninjured side, and Nureyev’s eyes fluttered as he struggled to stay conscious, but his eyes managed to open again and meet Juno’s gaze as Rita answered.

_ “Heyya, Boss, what’s going—” _

“Rita! I need you to pick me and Glass up at the sewer entrance you found for us!” he shouted, even though he knew he didn’t have to. Pulling his shirt off, he used one of Nureyev’s knives to cut it into strips. “We need to get Glass to a hospital—”

Nureyev coughed, shaking his head and wincing when Juno sat him up and began wrapping the strips of his shirt around the thief’s ribs.

“Love, I’m no— I can’t go to a hospital, just go without me,” Nureyev tried again, dropping his head onto Juno’s shoulder with a groan when Juno pulled the makeshift bandages tight.

“No! I’m not leaving you down here—” Juno began, but cut himself off with a sob.

“I’m not going to make it, my love,” Nureyev said, his head lolling back as Juno lowered him onto the ground again. Rita made a distressed noise, and Juno could hear Benten in the background asking something.

“Shut up!” Juno snapped, tears in his eyes as he rested one hand on Nureyev’s hip and used the other to cradle his cheek. “You're not dying, goddamn it. And even if you are, I’m not letting it happen in the  _ fucking  _ sewers!”

Rita sputtered, panic gripping her voice as she cried,  _ “Die?! Who’s dyin’?! Is Mista Glass—” _

Juno could hear Benten demanding the comms from Rita, and then suddenly he was on the line.  _ “Juno? Is that you? What the hell is going on?” _

Hearing Benten’s voice broke the tight control Juno had managed to keep over himself. Everything came crashing down around Juno as his tears welled up and began to fall, and he didn’t know what to  _ do _ . He had messed up so badly; starting in the vault, then stalling on taking his shot, and not bothering to look for worse injuries. It was one thing to risk himself, but Nureyev?

Nureyev’s fingers tangled with Juno’s where they rested on his hip. Giving Juno a weak squeeze, and an even weaker smile, Nureyev struggled to suck in a breath. His breathing sounded wet and rattling, and his hand felt cold through the glove he wore.

_ “Juno!” _ Benten shouted, shaking Juno from his thoughts.

Leaning forward, Juno pressed his forehead to Nureyev’s and sobbed, “Ben, please.”

_ “We’re on our way, Juno,”  _ Benten said without hesitation. 

Juno sobbed again and added, “It’s Rex, he’s— it’s bad, Ben. I fucked up.”

Benten shushed him gently.  _ “We’ll figure things out, you just hang tight and stay on the line,” _ he said sternly.

“Okay,” Juno gasped, putting his comms down a short distance away, and he could hear Benten kicking people out of the cafe.

Holding back another sob, Juno moved to cradle Nureyev’s face in both of his hands, watching him closely. “Help is coming, Nureyev. Just hold on,” he begged quietly, quiet enough that his comms wouldn’t pick up his voice, tears running down his face. Nureyev was trying to stay awake, but his eyelids were fluttering quite a bit, and his breathing was slowing down.

“Nureyev, talk to me, you have to stay awake,” he whispered, hating how broken his voice sounded between them.

“N-not sure I… can, my love,” Nureyev said slowly with a wet chuckle, his eyes rolling back.

“Nureyev, no! Stay awake!” Juno begged, slapping his cheek a bit until he opened his eyes.

Meeting Juno’s eye hazily, Nureyev smiled a little bit and reached up to rest his hand on Juno’s where it cradled his face. “Ha-have to say, g-going out… in the arms of a b-beautiful lady is a n-nice surprise,” he said in a whisper, and Juno bit his cheek against another loud sob.

“Stop kidding around, Nureyev,” he pleaded, on the edge of hysterics. He pressed his lips to Nureyev’s, who tried to return the kiss, but was too weak. Releasing a desperate, mournful sound, Juno said, “You can’t die, Nureyev.”

“W-we all die someday, dear detective. I’m only h-happy I got to know you b-before I did,” Nureyev said with a sigh. “Juno Steel, you were the best thing to ever happen to me.”

“No, that’s not good enough for me. It’s not enough!” Juno bit out, pressing a hard kiss to Nureyev’s lips as he sobbed. He didn’t care how childish he sounded, didn’t care that he couldn’t just demand that someone not die because he loved him and wasn’t  _ done _ yet.

And just like that, Juno knew with perfect clarity and without even a bit of doubt that he was in love with Peter Nureyev. Even though he’d only known him for a very short time, he  _ knew _ . It was different from any other time he claimed he was in love, even with Diamond. The only other times he could say even compared were his love for Benten, Rita, and Mick. Nureyev was important, and Juno wasn’t sure what sort of life he could have if Nureyev wasn’t  _ in it _ .

Even if the thief couldn’t stay, Juno needed him  _ somewhere _ in the universe to make it all  _ worth it _ .

But if Juno had to live in a galaxy without Peter Nureyev in it, he knew he couldn’t let him leave it without  _ knowing _ .

Juno kissed Nureyev again, sobbing as the thief weakly responded. “Nureyev,” he whispered, their mouths still pressed together. “Nureyev, please hold on. I-I… I need you, I-I-I can’t— I love you, Nureyev.”

The thief sucked in a sharp breath at that, trying to open his eyes properly, and his mouth began to move, seemingly trying to speak. But Juno kissed him again, trying to get him to conserve some of his energy.

“I-I-I know it’s ridiculous, and we just met, but it’s true, Nureyev, just,” Juno paused to sob again, “Just hold on a bit longer, for me, please. I know how selfish that is to ask, and I know— I just got you, I can’t  _ lose  _ you.”

Nureyev nodded just a little bit, but Juno pulled back just in time to watch the thief lose consciousness.

“Nureyev! Wake up!” he shouted, slapping Nureyev’s face a few times, and his eyes did reopen, though they were unfocused.

_ “… Juno,” _ Benten’s voice came through the comms, reminding him very suddenly that he and Nureyev were not quite so alone.  _ “We’re almost there, just hang tight and keep Rex awake if you can.” _

Juno nodded, even though he knew Benten couldn’t see him. There was a lot Juno would have to deal with, especially if his brother had been paying enough attention to have overheard Nureyev’s name, but that was something for him to handle much later.

The next few times Nureyev drifted off again, Juno was successful in bringing him around until Nureyev finally stopped responding, his breathing ragged and his eyes rolling back.

Juno held his breath as he pressed his fingers to Nureyev’s throat, feeling his thready pulse. Shaking, Juno pressed his ear to Nureyev’s chest to listen to his heartbeat.

“I love you,” Juno whispered through his tears, and he could hear the sound of a car door slam just outside the entrance to the sewers. Sobbing again, Juno repeats, “I love you, Nureyev.”


	6. promises, swear them to the sky [E]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A dinner, a dance, and poetry...  
>  **[peep them new tags, smut is _100% skippable_ ]**  
>  **[now doing the chapter title thing i guess bc i added art by the lovely SJ to chapter 3 go look at it, it's beautiful]**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Some Important Notes:**
> 
>   * I choose to believe that anything is possible in the future and that includes ridiculously quick turnaround times after near death and also Getting Sexy New Teef bc _I personally find it really hot_.
>   * The smut is **completely skippable**! **There is nothing in the smutty parts that is plot heavy** , so you aren't "missing" anything that isn't covered in the PG-13 parts.
>   * Nureyev is a **gender euphoric trans man** , as in **he does not experience any dysphoria** , who has **not had top-surgery** and does **not wear a binder**. I use a mix of **masculine and feminine** terminology for his genitalia, as I do for my own body as a transmasc individual. I use the following words for his body: tit(s), cunt, and dick. The strap is referred to as his cock. If this makes you uncomfortable, that is totally understandable, and I recommend skipping the smut.
> 

> 
> **PLEASE HEED THE FOLLOWING NEW TAGS FOR THIS CHAPTER:**
> 
>   * Bath Sex
>   * Cunnilingus
>   * Facefucking
>   * Rimming
>   * Multiple Orgasms
>   * Overstimulation
> 

> 
> **SEE ALSO:**
> 
>   * Peter Nureyev's infinite well of love for Juno Steel vs. Juno Steel's self-worth struggles FIGHT
>   * Blatant disregard for refractory periods of almost-40yos
> 

> 
> For skipping to the smut on rereads (because I _see you_ and I _respect you_ ):
> 
>   * Skip to Bath Sex
>   * Skip to The Big One
> 


* * *

_**[NUREYEV]** _

Nureyev woke up slowly, his entire body feeling heavy and fatigued with a dull pain in his back and across his stomach, along with lesser pains all over his body. He swallowed and grimaced at the sensation of bandages across his throat.

The memories of the heist were slow to return to him. He could remember the sewers before entering, remembered getting to the vault and collecting the weapons. Then Nureyev remembered the Piranha, Juno coming to rescue him and the slice of pain as the knife plunged between his ribs. He remembered only flashes of their desperate escape, mostly just perfect, stupid, noble Juno refusing to leave him behind, even after discovering the wound.

Straining a bit, he could remember the sewers, laying on the ground while Juno was on his comms, panicked and pleading. The memory of Juno’s outrage at the thought of Nureyev—a thief, a murderer, a nameless criminal, a wanted terrorist—dying in a gutter like he deserved, his conviction that he wouldn’t…

“I love you, Nureyev.”

Jolting at the memory, Nureyev found himself properly awake and looking around for his beautiful detective.

Dread settled in his gut as Nureyev noticed multiple things at once. First, Juno was not anywhere to be seen. Second, he was in a hospital room, which did not bode well. Third, he had no glasses, which made it difficult to get an accurate impression on his situation.

The room he was in appeared to be either rundown or unfinished. The bed he was on felt new, however, so he was inclined to assume the latter. Swallowing thickly, he realized just how dry his throat was and looked around again.

He startled when he realized that someone had actually been sitting beside him, and Nureyev wondered how strong of painkillers he was on were. At first, with how groggy he felt and how fuzzy his vision was, he thought it was Juno, but quickly realized it was Benten.

Benten was reading a book but looked up as Nureyev moved around. He snorted a bit before standing to hand Nureyev a pair of glasses.

“Juno grabbed those for you from your hotel room,” he explained as Nureyev put the glasses on, adding, “He paid for a reservation extension, by the way.”

Nureyev attempted to thank Benten, but only a croak came out. When Benten handed him a water bottle and a straw, he nodded gratefully and took long sips. With his throat soothed a bit, Nureyev tried again and asked, “Where’s Juno?”

Benten stared at him, his expression stony before he sucked his teeth and said, “Taking care of whatever you idiots stole.”

“Ah, right,” Nureyev said with a nod, leaning back and trying not to feel disappointed. That was the smart thing to do, and Nureyev knew it. But waking up, remembering the panicked confessions, and not seeing the lady himself… “That’s good, then.”

“Don’t be too upset, Rex. He was here day and night until you were given the all-clear,” Benten said blandly at Nureyev’s sulking. “It would have been romantic, but he’s my brother, so it’s gross.”

“I’m sure,” Nureyev said with a laugh, looking around again now that he could see. Sure enough, the room he was in was unfinished, with most of the equipment missing and wires hanging from where there would someday be cameras.

“Okay, you know what? No,” Benten burst out, startling Nureyev out of his thoughts abruptly. When Nureyev looked back at him, Benten was glaring at him. “It wouldn’t’ve been romantic, because what you two did was _stupid_ , and _reckless_ , and so far beyond selfish, even _I_ am disgusted with it.”

“Pardon?” Nureyev questioned, bewildered. “We were stopping—”

“Yeah, yeah, you were saving the world, _whatever_ ,” Benten snapped, and it was at that moment that Nureyev realized there were tears in his eyes. “I’m just a little sick of hauling my brother out of gutters, covered in blood. And worse, you two _and Rita_ hid it from me!”

“Benzaiten,” Nureyev started, but he quickly closed his mouth when he realized that nothing he could have said would be helpful. 

“Like, _fuck_ ,” Benten said with a heavy sigh as he slumped back in his seat and crossed his arms over his chest. “When Juno told us to open without him, and Rita was jumpy all day and then you didn’t show, my first thought was you two dumb saps eloped—”

Nureyev actually choked a bit, blushing deeply. “I didnʼt— We wouldnʼt—”

“—That was literally my worst-case scenario, you know that, Rex? Then Juno’s call happened, and then…” Benten trailed off, gesturing vaguely at Nureyev in the bed before he pouted at the wall next to him.

“Benzaiten, I’m— There’s nothing I can say that can make up for what we did, but I am sorry,” Nureyev said slowly, carefully, and he barely refrained from flinching when Benten looked at him sharply out of the corner of his eye. 

“Yeah, I know you are,” Benten said sternly, heaving a huge sigh. “Still mad as hell, though.”

“Of course,” Nureyev said with a nod before asking, “So, what happened after I passed out?”

Benten shrugged before saying, “Rita and I closed the cafe early, raced over, you were… _bad_ , and Juno was…”

When he trailed off again, Nureyev remembered the hysterical edge to Juno’s voice just before he faded completely, and nodded.

“I called Mick, since he’s a security guard here, and he pulled some strings to get you up here,” Benten continued after a moment. “No cameras, and no records at all. Juno threw a ton of creds at the doctors and nurses. Rita’s checking constantly to make sure they keep their end of the deal.”

“Thank you,” Nureyev said after a bit, raising an eyebrow.

“It was Rita’s idea, mostly,” Benten said with a shrug of his shoulders and an eye-roll. “She heard you say ‘no hospitals’ like one of those ridiculous characters from her cheesiest streams and hatched the whole idea.”

Nureyev smiled at that and leaned back against the pillows. “Still, thank you, Benzaiten.”

“Whatever, Rex,” he replied with another eye-roll.

Nureyev actually chuckled, feeling exhaustion coming over him again. “Careful, Benzaiten. You’re almost being nice to me.”

“I’m contractually required to do anything my brother asks for twenty-four hours if he cries,” Benten said flatly. “He asked me to wait with you and ‘be nice’ when you woke up.”

Nureyev laughed out loud, tipping his head back and closing his eyes. Licking his chapped lips, he flinched when he found the gap where his teeth used to be. He pressed his tongue into the hole, and made a face, resolving to fix that as quickly as possible.

“Plus, I mean,” Benten began with an explosive sigh. “I can’t really listen to my brother sob about how much he loves a guy while he’s bleeding out in a gutter and then get right back to bullying him when he wakes up. I have _some_ morals or whatever. Yelling at you for being stupid does not count as bullying, though.”

Nureyev froze, eyes flashing open to look at Benten sharply. “How much… did you overhear?”

“Some of it. Enough of it, I guess,” he replied with a noncommittal shrug. “Juno already tore into me about your name, by the way. I get it, my lips are sealed, I’m leaving it alone. You’re ‘Rex’ until you tell me otherwise, okay?”

“Sounds agreeable,” Nureyev said tensely, but he forced himself to relax. This was Benzaiten Steel, the love of his life’s twin brother, with whom Juno shared nearly everything. If there was another person in the galaxy Nureyev would have eventually told, it likely would have been him.

“Just don’t be too hard on him about it,” Benten said quickly. “He’s been working himself into at least three ulcers over it.”

Nureyev merely nodded before he closed his eyes again and laid back. He would think about it more later when he had the opportunity to do so alone.

Benten made an unimpressed noise. “You have to choose your meals, Rex. It’s the paper on your tray.”

Nureyev sighed and shook his head. Exhaustion was dragging on his limbs and he couldn’t be bothered to choose what awful hospital food he would have forced on him.

“Fine, go to sleep. Gonna set you up with a liquid diet,” Benten said sourly. “Nothing but smoothies and broth.”

Nureyev laughed a bit before allowing himself to drop off back to sleep.

It was the next day when Juno returned.

Nureyev was picking at his meal, having eaten everything remotely palatable while Mick sat with him, shuffling a deck of cards. They had played a few rounds of various games up until someone delivered him his meal.

He could hear Juno’s heavy boots in the hall and looked over at the door moments before the detective walked in. Seeing him again, after everything they’d gone through, took the breath right out of Nureyev’s lungs.

Juno’s clothes were dusty and rumpled in a way that made Nureyev think heʼd slept in them, and he had more than a little bit of stubble on his jaw. Nureyev remembered that Juno loved him, and a thousand butterflies took wing in his stomach. He wanted to leap out of the bed and embrace Juno, shower him with romantic verse and tell him over and over and over again that he loved him, too.

But when Juno’s eye met his, he froze in the doorway, his expression open and easy to read for only the briefest of moments. It showed relief first, and then fear before it was closed, like shutters being pulled to keep Nureyev out.

That was concerning, but he wasn’t about to jump to any conclusions.

Mick looked over and grinned, his big goofy one that was usually contagious. “Hey, JayJay! Welcome back!”

“Hey, Mick,” Juno greeted, biting the inside of his cheek but not entering the room any further. “How’s everything?”

“Everything’s great!” Mick replied, turning to scoop up his cards and put them away in their box. “Especially now that you’re back, everything’s perfect!”

“Where are you going?” Juno asked, a look of panic overcoming his expression when his big friend stood and walked toward the door.

“I mean, I was going back to work? I do actually have a job here, you know,” he replied with a full laugh, looking between Juno and Nureyev with a suggestive look. “That, and I figure you two _lovebirds_ would like the chance to catch up.”

Before either of them could say anything, Mick was already out the door, only pausing to clap a heavy hand on Juno’s shoulder as he passed. Once the door shut behind him with a loud clap, silence fell over the room.

After a minute or two with nothing said between them, Nureyev motioned to what was left of his food. “Hungry? I’m not eating the rest of this,” he said, sneering at the remainder of his meal.

Eying what Nureyev had left on his tray, Juno snorted. “Too good for jello and applesauce, Rex?”

“Yes,” Nureyev replied flatly.

With a chuckle, Juno picked up the applesauce pouch and opened it, eating the stuff slowly while Nureyev watched him. The detective was obviously thinking about something, and it wasn’t sitting very well on his mind either. Nureyev just wasn’t quite sure how to bring the topic up in a way that would be productive with his detective.

“Juno, darling—”

“I have to check on the cafe. It's been closed for a couple days,” Juno said suddenly, furrowing his brow down at the pouch of applesauce. “Gotta make sure it’s still in one piece.”

“I—” Nureyev started, his mouth twisting with hurt but he didn’t know what to say. Despite saying he should go, however, Juno hadn’t made any move to leave which gave Nureyev some hope. “O-of course, I understand. Could we talk before you leave, dear?”

“What’s there to talk about?” Juno asked, still pointedly looking at the pouch in his hands, and Nureyev’s frown deepened.

“Well, we can start with something small. How did disposing of the weapons go?” Nureyev asked, working hard to keep his voice steady.

“Went fine, your friend isn’t very talkative,” Juno replied, still not looking at him. “Feel like he kinda overcharged for his services, but hey, I’m not about to argue with someone twice my size. Plus, seemed kind of fitting to use Pereyra’s hush-money.”

“Of course,” Nureyev said, and the sigh escaped him before he could stop it, and he asked, “Have I done something wrong, Juno?”

“What?” Juno asked, finally meeting Nureyev’s gaze with an alarmed look.

“I mean, of course, I’m struggling to think of anything I could’ve done, given that I’ve been unconscious—”

“Rex, why the hell would you think _you’ve_ done anything wrong?” Juno interrupted and Nureyev laughed at the question.

“You have barely looked at me since you returned and were planning to leave the moment you saw I was conscious,” Nureyev listed back at him, raising an eyebrow, trying to calm the rising panic in his gut. “So, either I’ve done something, or… I don’t know, Juno. I don’t know what else all of that could mean.”

“No, Rex, that’s not—” Juno abruptly cut himself off, and just like that, the wall came crumbling down. “I’m—I fucked up, _so much_ , and didn’t listen to anything you said. I know you said no hospitals—”

“Juno—”

“—and I know it was really selfish of me to risk your identity—”

“My love, please—”

“—But I couldn’t just let it happen like that. And then Benten reminded me about Mick—”

“Juno—”

“—and I _know_ Benten overheard your name, I fucked up, forgetting the comms—”

“Juno! Please,” Nureyev finally managed to get in, and Juno shut his mouth with an audible click of his teeth. Nureyev swivelled his tray out of the way and looked at Juno. “Yes, I said I couldn’t go to the hospital, but you seem to have sufficiently worked around the issues I have with them. As for your other point, yes it was not ideal, someone else learning my name, but I’m not— you didn’t do anything wrong. It can’t be taken back now, regardless.”

“But Rex—”

“I’ve talked to Benzaiten about it already. Now answer this for me: would I have survived if you had not brought me here?” Nureyev interrupted curtly, and he could feel himself shaking as he waited for Juno’s answer.

Juno bit the inside of his cheek, and his eye went glassy and wet with emotion. “No,” he replied, his voice something quiet and delicate.

“Then I’m grateful you ignored my wishes, Juno,” Nureyev said with a smile, holding his hand out to reach for Juno. “Now, please, can you just come here and lay with me?”

Juno was quick with tossing the empty pouch of applesauce in the trash and removing his boots before climbing onto the bed next to Nureyev. Juno only paused in laying down to give him a kiss, deepening it with a keening whine and a swipe of his tongue, straddling his lap carefully. The rasp of Juno’s stubble against Nureyev’s face was novel and exquisite, and he almost pulled the detective in for even more.

Then Juno pulled away with a bit of a grimace, laughing at Nureyev’s puzzled expression. “Sorry,” he laughed again, not sounding sorry at all. “Feels kinda weird with the missing teeth.”

Nureyev groaned. “I’m well aware, dear.”

Juno chuckled and kissed him again. “I’m sure I can get used to it. You know, if we practice a bit,” he said suggestively, his voice dropping lower as he leaned in for another kiss. Nureyev smirked and deepened it just enough to warrant a quick nip at Juno’s lower lip as he pulled away.

“That is certainly something we can do,” he agreed, grabbing the front of Juno’s shirt and pulling him in for more.

They made out slow and easy with no sense of urgency and very little heat for some time. Juno brought his hands up to hold Nureyev’s between them, sighing happily as Nureyev licked into his mouth.

After some time passed languidly like that, Juno pulled back to grumble, “How is it you can be out cold for two days and not have just _rancid_ morning breath?”

“They do let me out of this bed, dear detective,” Nureyev replied with a laugh. “That is actually a requirement for them to discharge me. I’ve both bathed and brushed my teeth today.”

“Right, yeah,” Juno said sheepishly. “That makes sense. So you’ll be discharged soon?”

Nureyev nodded and said, “In a few days. The wound on my back has one more round of treatment before I can resume most normal physical activity.”

Juno nodded but was startled by a very big and very loud yawn. “Oh, shit. Sorry, Rex, I’m not bored, just exhausted,” he grumbled a bit as he rubbed his eye tiredly.

Nureyev smiled sweetly at Juno, which had the detective looking at him with a wide eye and chewing on the inside of his cheek. The expression was so strange on his face, so vulnerable that Nureyev expected the shutters to be pulled any moment, but then they weren’t. Another flock of butterflies burst to flight in his stomach.

“You’re fine, darling. Come and lay down with me,” Nureyev finally said, beckoning Juno into his arms, an invitation that was immediately accepted.

Nureyev let out a contented sigh as Juno wrapped around him like an octopus, his mouth and nose pressed into his throat, against the parts of his skin that weren’t covered in bandages. Nureyev shivered at the brushing touch of Juno’s lips, at the hot breath against his neck and felt the fluttering in his gut settle as he wrapped an arm around Juno’s shoulders. Held tight in Nureyev’s arms, Juno sucked in a deep breath through his nose, seemingly holding it before slowly releasing it and burrowing deeper into the nape of his neck.

“Is everything okay, Juno?” he asked quietly, feeling his entire body relaxing with the warmth of his lover against him.

“Mm-hmm,” Juno mumbled, his voice already thick and sleepy. “I was just… just needed to check something.”

Nureyev smiled at that and turned to press his lips against the top of Juno’s head in a gentle kiss. “Juno,” he said quietly, his heart jumping when he remembered Juno’s confession again. “I wanted to ask you something.”

There was no response from the detective except for a quiet, gentle snore. Juno was sound asleep within the handful of minutes it had taken him to settle in against him, and Nureyev couldn’t have helped the smile that came to his face if he wanted to.

* * *

It was dark when Nureyev was woken up, and he was immediately tense. Something was wrong, and for a delirious moment he thought it was the weight holding him down that was the issue. Then the memories of the hospital, Juno returning, and both of them falling asleep together came back in a rush.

Juno twitched and let out a low groan, his fingers curled tightly into the front of Nureyev’s medical gown. He was clammy, his sweat soaking through to Nureyev’s skin, and he was shivering. Then Juno gagged, dry-heaving as he woke up and looked around wildly.

Nureyev grabbed the little bucket he had been provided by the hospital and handed it to Juno, who immediately used it with incredible enthusiasm. The whole time, Nureyev rubbed his back gently, pausing to massage the back of Juno’s neck when he was done unloading the contents of his stomach, humming quietly as the detective tried to calm his breathing. A few minutes later, after successfully staving off another bout of puking, Juno finally leaned over to place the bucket on the bedside table.

“Shit, I’m sorry,” he groaned, covering his face and his voice sounded entirely too upset for Nureyev’s liking. “They come back when I’m stressed out. The nightmares, I mean.”

“Why are you apologizing?” Nureyev asked, reaching up to gently pull Juno’s hands away from his face.

Juno blinked at him as if the answer was plain as day, baffled that he would even have to ask. “I woke you up,” Juno said flatly, as if that was enough of a reason. “I woke you up, almost puked on you, and shit, I’m so sweaty—”

“Juno, dear, do you realize how low those things are on my list of priorities?” Nureyev interrupted, lifting his hands to cradle Juno’s face. “Right now, I’m worried about _you_ , love.”

He could feel Juno’s face heat up against his palms, the detective clearly embarrassed and perhaps a bit overwhelmed. “It’s— you need your sleep, so I should go,” Juno quickly said, but before he could get up, Nureyev adjusted his hands to hold the back of Juno’s head.

“What you’re going to do, Juno Steel, is go into that bathroom and use one of the toothbrushes provided by the hospital,” Nureyev said firmly, and Juno went still next to him. “Then you’re going to come back here and lay with me again.

“You don’t have to do this, Rex,” Juno whispered, and Nureyev pulled him down so he could press a kiss to his forehead.

“Of course I don’t, Juno. Doesn’t mean I don’t want to,” Nureyev replied, sighing as he let Juno sit back enough to meet his gaze again. “If you refuse to let me do this for _you_ , then do as I ask for my own comfort. I’m worried about you, and would very much like to hold you.”

Juno bit the inside of his cheek as he shook his head in disbelief. “Are you serious?” he eventually asked and Nureyev laughed softly.

“Of course I am, darling,” he replied, pursing his lips tightly. “Now go and brush your teeth. I expect you to come right back here.”

Juno huffed a weak laugh and as he slipped off the bed, he muttered a quiet, “Yes, sir.” Nureyev found himself a bit breathless at being called “sir” and decided that might be something for them to explore properly later.

A few minutes later, Juno crawled back onto the bed, squawking a bit when Nureyev yanked him forward by the front of his shirt. Tucking the detective in beside him, Nureyev dipped his head to capture Juno’s lips in a chaste kiss, sighing when Juno pressed up into it.

“Would it… help to talk about it?” Nureyev asked a bit haltingly when they pulled apart. He personally had very little experience with nightmares and even less with the nightmares of a loved one.

“I don’t know,” Juno replied after a bit, and he flopped down next to Nureyev, tucking his head under his chin. “They’re just about when I lost my eye.”

“Ah, I see,” Nureyev hummed, rubbing Juno’s back soothingly.

“But now you’re there,” he confessed, wrapping his arm tightly around Nureyev’s waist. “When I was so busy fussing about my aim that she got you. Keeps replaying.”

“Juno, please understand that I am incredibly grateful for you taking what time you did to aim,” Nureyev said firmly. “Also, understand that she was going to ‘get me’ whether you shot her or not.”

Juno stiffened in his arms before propping himself up to look at Nureyev’s face. “What?” he asked quietly.

“I’m not sure if this will be comforting to you or not,” Nureyev started, before sighing. “I felt the knife before you even lifted your blaster, Juno. It was likely her plan to stab me, and let me bleed out while she continued taunting you.”

At that, Juno sat up fully to meet Nureyev’s gaze properly. “Seriously?”

“She underestimated you, dear detective,” Nureyev replied, smiling. “She didn’t do it as some sort of last moment revenge on you. She truly believed she had won.”

“That’s…” Juno trailed off before chuckling a bit. “That actually is kind of comforting.”

“I should hope so,” Nureyev said with a laugh of his own. “You were amazing in there, and I cannot thank you enough for doing literally _nothing_ I told you to.”

Juno laughed out loud and bent to kiss Nureyev, slow and searching before pulling away to snuggle in tight again.

“I’ve always had a problem with authority,” he joked around a yawn.

Nureyev chuckled at that and squeezed Juno against his side. Within a few minutes, Juno was asleep again and Nureyev was drifting off to join him.

* * *

Nureyev discharged himself from the hospital a day early. He had managed to convince Juno to go home early in the evening, and that he would come by the cafe the next day at dinnertime, so there was no need to visit him again. There was part of him that knew leaving Mars immediately was wiser, that staying was just asking to get caught again by Ramses or even Pereyra.

But Nureyev was fairly confident that the information dug up and subsequently leaked for both mayoral candidates would keep them busy for the foreseeable future, at least long enough to spend a couple more nights however he pleased. 

And what he wanted most was to spend his last night on Mars with a cranky private investigator. He also had another appointment.

So he changed hotels to something fancier, though discreet with very few surveillance cameras in the halls, as the establishment catered to guests seeking a more romantic experience. They would not be watched, nor bothered, and the rooms all had incredible sound-proofing between units.

Nureyev decided he should go all out for his romantic evening with Juno, and rented the honeymoon suite. It was a corner suite on the highest floor, which would give them an almost panoramic view of Hyperion City and the surface of Mars beyond the dome through uninterrupted floor-to-ceiling windows. Just off the spacious living room through a set of double-doors was the bedroom and it’s ensuite.

Nureyev was particularly enamoured with the king-sized four-poster bed, which was on a raised platform and tucked right into the corner of windows. There were gauzy fabrics hanging from the ceiling and secured at points above the corners of the bed, though they only draped to curtain off the two sides of the bed facing into the bedroom. The gauzy fabric was lined with thousands of dots of gentle, amber lights that twinkled like stars.

The ensuite itself was massive, with a huge soaker tub and luxurious shower stall, both also situated against floor-to-ceiling windows.

Nureyev spent the better part of his afternoon chatting with the concierge about arrangements for the next evening and then, after asking her a few questions about local stores, he headed out to do some shopping.

The next day, Nureyev properly groomed himself for the first time since the heist, which had been… a bit of an ordeal he hadn’t anticipated. 

It was the first time he had seen himself naked for any amount of time without bandages and there was a vain part of him that cringed away from himself, that squirmed at the idea of Juno seeing him like that.

The scars on his face would be easy to hide with make-up, he decided, especially the thinner ones that decorated his cheeks and the line of his jaw. The ones on his throat would be trickier, and he cursed his lack of foresight during his shopping trip the day before. He could have gotten a nice collar or something to cover them up. He would have to use make-up until he found a more suitable alternative.

It was the mess of slashes on his chest and the electrical burn scars on his abdomen that caused him the most distress, given his penchant for revealing tops. He didn’t have much in the way of sexy clothing that would hide those, and make-up wouldn’t be ideal. 

What would Juno think?

But then he remembered that Juno wore his scars, if not with pride then with defiance. What would that say to Juno, if Nureyev went to such great lengths to hide his own wounds? What would that communicate to his sensitive detective?

So with a determined sigh, Nureyev got dressed without consideration for hiding anything, putting on a black, cropped top with a plunging neckline that showed off all of the jagged scars across his chest, and if not for the corset-waisted slacks he wore, the burn scar would also have been almost completely visible.

He finished his look off with a loose braid, tied off with a black ribbon, keeping his hair quite nicely out of his face.

Nureyev looked at himself in the mirror again, and hated what he saw, but he would learn to be okay with it. If Juno could, so could Nureyev.

As he left the hotel that afternoon, he stopped by the front desk to verify that the special accommodations he set up the night before were still happening, and to inform them he was leaving for the day for their convenience.

The cab ride to his first destination was short and sweet, and Nureyev asked the driver to keep the meter running, regardless of how long it took him to return.

It did not take long, as he had been promised it wouldn’t when the specialist had visited him at the hospital. It was only thirty minutes, and he was returning to the cab with a new set of teeth. The marvels of modern medicine and cosmetic surgery had allowed him to easily and almost painlessly fix the mess the Piranha had made of his iconic smile. He even paid a little bit extra to get something a bit flashier than boring old white, going instead with something that looked like rose gold, inspired by the ear cuff Juno always wore.

In the back of the cab, Nureyev was beside himself with excitement to show Juno, bouncing his knee and drumming a beat on his thigh. By the time they reached the cafe, he was about to vibrate right out of his skin.

“Keep the meter running again, please,” Nureyev said breathlessly to the driver, sliding out and walking into the cafe

Juno was behind the counter with Benten and Rita, the three of them chatting while Juno was balancing an empty serving tray on the tip of his finger. Juno was less rumpled—wearing a pink sweater-dress that exposed his shoulders and just enough of his collarbones to make Nureyev’s mouth water—though he still had quite a bit of stubble defining the sharp edge of his jaw.

Nureyev may have commented on the stubble at one point while he was in the hospital, perhaps in the middle of a heated make-out session with his detective. There was also the possibility that he had made a crude comment about where else he might enjoy feeling the burn of it. Juno had since been conspicuously lax on shaving, and that excited Nureyev greatly.

Juno looked over, and when he properly registered that it was indeed Nureyev he was seeing, his face lit up. It wasn’t a grin, but there was a way his face would shift when he smirked at him that felt like the entire sun was being channelled through it. Juno’s posture straightened and he grabbed the tray between both of his hands to avoid dropping it.

“They let you out early for good behaviour?” Juno asked teasingly, pushing a grumpy Benten out of the way so he could lean against the counter as Nureyev approached. “Thought you wouldn’t be here until after dinner.”

“I actually discharged myself last night to get a few things prepared. I also had an appointment today,” Nureyev said as he stopped at the counter. He placed his hands on the counter top and leaned close, grinning broadly at the detective.

The moment Juno saw the new teeth, his eye widened and the tray slipped out of his hands, clattering loudly against the counter before hitting the floor.

Benten let out a low, begrudgingly impressed whistle before turning a judgmental look on Juno.

Rita however shoved herself up as tall as she could get on the counter short of standing on it, letting out a high-pitched sound of excitement. Without hesitation, she grabbed Nureyev’s face with both hands and turned it side to side before squealing again.

“Wow, Mista Glass, that is _so cool_! And _preeetty_!” she gushed before gasping dramatically and letting go of his face. “They’re pretty-cool! Not pretty cool as in cooler than normal, boring cool, but pretty-cool as in they’re both pretty _and_ cool because they’re cool _and_ pretty!”

She barely paused to catch her breath before she smacked Juno’s arm with a stern look. “Mista Steel, aren’tcha gonna say something nice about Mista Glass’ new teeth?” she growled in a tone that she possibly thought was quiet, but the entire restaurant heard her.

Juno swallowed thickly, taking in a shaky breath before nodding. “Uh,” he began, his voice too hoarse to continue right away, so he cleared his throat before saying, “They’re, uh, they’re really great. They l-look, uh, good.”

Nureyev took a moment to bite his bottom lip, feigning shyness to show off the teeth pressing into soft flesh. Juno’s breath left him in a quick whoosh at that, his expression taking on an even more dazed quality.

“Holy shit,” Juno whispered dreamily, quiet enough that only the three of them with him at the counter could hear.

At that, Benten pulled a face and gagged audibly. “Oh, gross. Get a room,” he groaned loudly, and Juno spluttered for a moment, successfully snapped out of his stupor.

Nureyev turned a broad grin on Benten, not missing the way Juno’s eye locked on his mouth again.

“I did, in fact, get one,” he said, and turned to look at Juno again, adding, “I’m here to collect my dear detective for the evening.”

Rita actually screamed with her delight, gaining the attention of every patron in the cafe, and abruptly turned to start pulling Juno’s apron off.

“Aw, Mista Glass, how _romantic_! C’mon, Mista Steel, get outta here!” she commanded, growling when Juno kept knocking her hands away.

Juno bit the inside of his cheek, finally managing to get Rita to stop grabbing at his clothes. For the first time since Nureyev arrived, Juno looked unsure and Nureyev wanted to pull him into a kiss.

“I’m not really dressed for a date, Rex,” he said, and Nureyev could tell he was pulling down the back of his dress nervously. Nureyev smiled at him, feeling utterly fond of Juno in a way that was almost smothering.

“You look beautiful, radiant even, my love,” he replied and Rita made that sound of hers again, the one like a rocketship revving, while Benten groaned and rolled his eyes.

“What a line, Rex,” Benten said flatly. “Juno’s not that easy—”

“Y-yeah, okay. Yeah,” Juno interrupted, his gaze turning dreamy again as he fished the keys to the cafe out of the pocket of his dress and finished taking off his apron.

“Wow, I stand corrected,” Benten murmured, eyebrows raised as he accepted the keys from Juno. “Are you going to be home in time to open tomorrow, or should I post a sign?”

Juno glanced at Nureyev, who merely smirked at him suggestively, relishing Benten’s gag and Rita’s snickers.

“The sign might be a better idea, Ben,” Juno replied with his own little smirk before he came around the counter and followed Nureyev out.

They slid into the backseat of the cab, sitting flush together and the moment they were settled, Nureyev pulled Juno into a kiss. It was chaste, for the sake of the driver if nothing else, but he desperately wanted to deepen it. Juno, the absolute minx, tested his restraint when he dragged his pierced tongue along the seam of his lips.

However, the driver cleared his throat and Juno pulled away so quickly, Nureyev feared he might exit the vehicle entirely.

“So, where to now, Mr Rose?” the driver asked, his expression unimpressed in the rear view mirror.

Nureyev only smiled at the man’s sour look and said, “Back to the hotel, please.”

“Your hotel?” Juno asked, and when Nureyev looked at him, he was delighted to see the confused little pout.

It was obvious Juno was thinking about the seedy little hotel room he’d booked before the heist, and it was endearing that he had expected better. Nureyev smiled soothingly down at Juno, grabbing his thigh and squeezing lightly.

“Do you trust me, love?” Nureyev asked, low and quiet.

“Well, yeah,” Juno said without hesitation.

Nureyev leaned down and gave Juno a kiss on the corner of his mouth, and the detective immediately turned into it. Nureyev was almost sad that he had to pull away, lest he get carried away.

“Then trust that I wouldn’t take you to a hovel for—” he paused, realizing what he was about to say, and that it would be the first time he was saying it aloud. Nureyev took a deep breath, and said, “For our last night before I leave.”

Juno’s expression faltered, becoming deeply sad before he visibly rallied himself with a small smile. “Okay.”

When they pulled up to the hotel, Juno let out a low whistle and looked down at his sweater-dress and clunky leather boots. “Damn, Duke. Now I’m definitely underdressed,” he said, and while it was said as if it was a joke, it sounded a bit too self-deprecating for Nureyev’s liking.

Nureyev paid the cabby handsomely for being a chauffeur and got out when the doorman opened his door. Reaching back into the cab, he helped Juno slide out with a firm grip on his hand.

“I said you looked radiant, love, and I meant it,” Nureyev soothed. “And if it worries you so much, I do have something up in the room for you to change into.”

“You bought me clothes?” Juno asked him incredulously, his face the picture of annoyance but his tone lacked all heat.

“Only a few items, love, and at quite the discount, too. A steal even,” Nureyev said cheekily, kissing the top of Juno’s head and tangling their fingers together. “So don’t you worry that pretty little head of yours.”

“Duke, is this… okay?” Juno asked quietly as Nureyev led him inside by their clasped hands. When Juno tucked himself in close to his side, Nureyev looked down at him and while the detective looked unsure, there was the tiniest hint of a smile on his lips.

“This hotel is very discreet, very few cameras,” Nureyev explained, squeezing Juno’s hand a bit. “Also, we aren’t hiding from mayors, aspiring or otherwise, nor their shared criminal bodyguard.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Juno said as an adorable smile curved his lips, and Nureyev was very nearly about to bend and kiss him senseless right there in the lobby.

“And,” Nureyev began in a lower voice as they arrived at the elevators. “The staff might think it’s odd if we walked in acting like we barely knew each other.”

“And why’s that?” Juno asked, looking up at him through his lashes.

“I requested a few romantic accommodations earlier,” he replied with a smirk, pausing at Juno’s shaky inhale. “And, I did rent the honeymoon suite.”

“Are you serious?” Juno asked as the elevator dinged with its arrival, his hand twitching in Nureyev’s.

“Of course I am,” Nureyev says with a winning smile as they stepped inside. Juno’s gaze, as Nureyev expected, was immediately drawn to the new teeth. “Only the best for my beautiful lady, after all.”

As soon as the doors slid shut behind them, Nureyev was dragged down by the front of his loose and flowy shirt, his mouth captured in a hungry kiss. Juno whined, pressing as close to Nureyev’s body as he could, tongue pressing into his mouth insistently. The sudden armful of solid detective had Nureyev stumbling back against the wall, chuckling into Juno’s mouth before meeting his tongue halfway. He allowed the kiss for a few moments before he gently pushed Juno back, grinning at the detective’s dazed expression.

“Slow down, love,” he said soothingly as the elevator slowed to a stop. When the doors reopened, Nureyev took Juno’s hand again and began to lead him down the hall. “We have all night.”

“That a promise?” Juno asked huskily, and Nureyev was shocked at how slick he felt between his legs already.

“Well, I’m certainly up for the challenge,” Nureyev replied as they arrived at the door to the suite, pulling out his key and smirking down at Juno. “And I fully expect you to stay the night this time.”

“Sounding pretty confident there, Rose,” Juno teased.

“I can be quite persuasive, I’ve been told,” Nureyev replied, beckoning Juno inside once he got the door open.

Upon seeing the suite, Juno gasped and let go of Nureyev’s hand to cross the room to the windows overlooking his city.

Nureyev took the time that Juno was distracted to survey the room for his requests and remove his gloves. There was a small table set up with a tablecloth and a beautiful flower arrangement, ready and waiting for their dinner to be delivered in the next hour or so. The monitor was on, set to a station that was playing gentle, romantic music.

Overall, he was pleased with the hotel’s work and had faith the bedroom and ensuite were to his specifications as well. Joining Juno at the windows, he looked down and his breath caught at the stunned expression on the detective’s face. Juno finally turned his gaze away to look at the suite, his eye wide.

“Nureyev,” he started, and it was that moment that Nureyev realized he hadn’t heard his name from those lips in days, a realization that almost knocked him off his feet. “This is… really nice.”

Nureyev was very suddenly unsure of his plans, whether they were the right course of action or if they were more likely to scare the detective away. Juno looked overwhelmed, his eye wet with unshed tears, his bottom lip quivering a bit before he bit it lightly. Nureyev cupped Juno’s cheeks in both hands, wiping away a tear that was about to fall.

“Juno, is this okay?” he asked, truly worried he’d gone too far.

“Yeah, jeez, sorry. This is amazing, just,” Juno said with a laugh, tilting his head into one of Nureyev’s hands and closing his eye with a watery sigh. “No one’s ever done something this nice for me.”

Not for the first time, Nureyev was overcome with the urge to hunt down and strangle the life out of every single person who had deemed themselves worthy of Juno Steel’s time. They had all swept him up and they took, and took, and took from him, not once putting in the work to deserve him, leaving Juno to tear up over the bare minimum.

Instead, Nureyev stooped to kiss Juno, deep and searching, drawing the soft little gasping moans he loved so dearly from his gorgeous detective.

“Well, then I’m glad to have been the first,” he said as they parted for air. “Dinner should be arriving in just over an hour. The bathroom is just inside the bedroom if you would like to freshen up a bit?”

Juno took a deep breath and nodded, stepping out of Nureyev’s embrace. “Yeah, I’ll go do that,” he said, a bit dazed still, and when he turned to walk away, Nureyev followed him.

“You know, I’ve been running around all morning, so I think I’ll get cleaned up as well,” he said with a cheeky grin, the expression widening at Juno’s sceptical snort.

“I doubt we have time for both of us to take a shower, Nureyev,” Juno said.

“I’m sure we could think of some sort of arrangement, love,” Nureyev purred suggestively, thoroughly enjoying the confused look on Juno’s face when he glanced back.

“What the hell does—” he began, but at Nureyev’s smirk, his expression went slack with realization, an expression Nureyev found as beautiful as it was priceless. “—Oh.”

Juno swallowed thickly and stammered, “Y-yeah, I mean sure—yeah, we can do that. Totally.”

Nureyev smiled wide when Juno cut himself off shyly, biting the inside of his cheek. Juno glanced at the new teeth again, and Nureyev took that moment to drag his tongue lightly across the points of them. Juno took a shuddery breath before grabbing his hand and dragging him to the bedroom.

The opulence of the bedroom actually tripped Juno up a bit, Nureyev running into him when he staggered to a halt with a gasp.

The curtains around the bed were freed from their tie-backs, and the twinkling lights in the billowy canopy were turned on. The gauzy fabrics obscured the view of the bed and windows beyond by quite a bit, but Nureyev did like that they wouldn’t offer complete privacy.

Taking a deep breath, Juno continued into the ensuite, only to come to an abrupt halt all over again.

The room was lit up in the gentle, amber light of the chandelier hanging above the huge round soaker tub to their left. It was set into a ledge which sat against the massive windows overlooking the city. The tub was already full of steamy water, and there was a near-solid layer of rose petals across the surface. The petals were also scattered across the edge of the tub, the window ledge, and the floor around it.

“Jeez, Nureyev. Are there any roses left in Hyperion City?” Juno all but whispered next to him, and he flushed deeply.

He had requested a romantic set-up for the evening, certainly, but he had expressed that his date would not appreciate a spectacle. The concierge had confirmed a subtle, understated romantic feel, and Nureyev shuddered at the thought of what the full romantic package would have looked like.

Nureyev turned to defend himself and saw the expression on Juno’s face. His eye was wide with wonder and delight, as well as something intense like yearning— no, it was love that overtook Juno’s expression. Nureyev was winded when he realized that Juno loved it, every part of it, right down to the floral massacre in the bathtub. The sass was an attempt at deflecting, at trying not to let on just how much he wanted it.

With a tug of their clasped hands, Nureyev spun Juno into his embrace and dipped down for a searching kiss, hands twisting in the knit of Juno’s dress. Juno whined and opened for him, pushing up onto his toes with his hands holding Nureyev’s biceps. They stood flush together, mouths moving slow and perfect, and Nureyev sighed when Juno’s tongue pressed against his own, the piercings sending a thrill through him.

Nureyev pulled back to catch his breath, and Juno tipped back onto his heels to stare up at him, dazed and smiling. He took in the face of his detective, his gaze lingering on the plain black eyepatch for a few moments before lifting a hand questioningly. It wasn’t even particularly important to him if Juno wore the eyepatch or not—that was Juno’s decision, and his decision only. Nureyev only figured that it would be an inconvenient obstacle in the bath.

Juno sucked in a sharp breath as Nureyev’s fingers lightly touched the eyepatch, and Nureyev waited for a sign to continue or back off. There was a beat before Juno gave him a quick nod, and Nureyev slowly lifted it off, tossing it onto the vanity.

Turning back to his detective, Nureyev took in the full view of Juno’s face for the first time since meeting him.

Nureyev found himself surprised to see that Juno still had his natural eye. For whatever reason, he had expected the eye to have been completely removed, but that was not the case.

“They were able to save the eye itself,” Juno muttered quietly, tensely as if hearing Nureyev’s thoughts. “Couldn’t get the vision back.”

Nureyev nodded with a comforting smile and looked his face over, really taking it in and cataloging each new thing.

There were three very distinct scars running vertically over the eyelid. Two of them were quite shallow and short, just enough to have drawn blood and cause pain, but minimal permanent damage. The third, however, was deep and jagged, starting just under Juno’s brow and ending just about his cheekbone. While the eye itself had been salvaged, it was murky where the scarring and blood vessels had formed over the damaged iris and pupil.

The injury would have been brutal, the pain immense, and for a moment Nureyev was deeply disappointed that the Piranha had been given a quick execution.

Juno’s breathing quickened as Nureyev took his time, his eyes glancing down before he began to turn away, biting the inside of his cheek. Nureyev made a small sound, a gentle _tsk_ as he cupped Juno’s jaw with both hands and turned him back to meet his gaze. The detective was shaking, waiting for Nureyev’s reaction and it was obvious he expected the worst.

And Nureyev wasn’t sure he could blame Juno; if anything Piranha had said about this supposed fiance of Juno’s was true, he had every reason to fear such vulnerability.

Slowly, Nureyev bent to place a gentle, lingering kiss to Juno’s cheekbone, waiting out the bout of shuddering breaths. The moment Juno released a soft sigh, and the tension leaked out of his shoulders, he moved his lips to the corner of his eye. There he waited again, humming happily when Juno almost immediately tilted his head back, and leaned his body closer to Nureyev.

Nureyev dropped a hand to wrap around Juno’s back to hold him firmly, soothingly, and gently brushed a gentle, barely-there kiss to Juno’s scarred eyelid.

“You’re gorgeous, my love,” Nureyev breathed, and he could feel tears pricking behind his eyelids with the ferocity of his emotions for Juno. “What did I do to deserve this?”

Juno made a soft, almost wounded sound before he tipped his head back and surged up onto his toes to capture Nureyev’s lips again. With a happy sigh, Nureyev gathered Juno up into his arms, pressing closer and deeper, wanting to taste and feel Juno as much and as quickly as possible. He was overwhelmed by the way the detective clung and squirmed against him, making soft and desperate sounds against his tongue.

Nureyev pulled back with a groan and dropped his mouth to Juno’s shoulder, exposed as it was with the open panels of his dress, and bit it lightly. Juno gasped, tipping his head back with a shudder, and Nureyev let go to place an open-mouthed kiss against the spot, lapping at it soothingly as Juno let out a sob.

He startled at the metallic tang of blood and pulled back to check on Juno. There were two cuts, each tiny enough to have stopped bleeding already, but Nureyev still cursed himself under his breath for being reckless.

“I’m sorry about that, my love,” he said sheepishly, kissing the spot soothingly again. “These new teeth are quite sharp.”

“Yeah, they are,” Juno sighed dreamily, and when Nureyev properly looked at him, the detective appeared perfectly blissed out. “They’re amazing.”

Nureyev raised an eyebrow at that. “Oh, are they?” he asked with a smirk, and at Juno’s rare, unrestrained grin, Nureyev pressed in for another searching kiss.

_** [click to skip smut] ** _

* * *

Nureyev grabbed two handfuls of Juno’s dress and hiked it up, huffing out a laugh when the detective reluctantly stepped back to let him take it off. The moment he had it off and tossed across the ensuite, Nureyev happily pressed in for another kiss, and moved to run his hands over Juno’s bare stomach and hips.

However, his hands did not find bare skin.

Stepping back, Nureyev looked down at his lover and almost choked on his tongue at the sight of a new harness.

This one was a pale, pastel pink with straps at his hips attached to a sheer panel with lace detailing of flowers over his soft stomach. The panel ended just below the chest and was connected to a collar at the base of his throat with a delicate silver chain.

Juno also wore a pair of panties in a matching shade, though “panties” was a term Nureyev would have used liberally to describe them.

The garment was little more than a lace pouch attached to a strappy waistband to cover his dick. The piece had more straps and lace around Juno’s hips and down his thighs, but it truly did not cover much.

It especially struggled to keep anything covered with the way the detective’s hardening cock strained against the lace.

Running his hands down Juno’s back, he felt nothing but bare skin, interrupted only by the single strap of Juno’s panties. Then, his hands were full of Juno’s perfect, firm, and bare ass. With a moan and some teasing exploration that left Juno squirming and whining, Nureyev determined that the detective’s panties were not a thong.

Juno was dressed that way under his cosy dress all day at work, his ass completely exposed, Nureyev realized. All one would have to do was hike his skirt up just a bit and they would have seen, or Juno just had to reach a bit higher than he should, and they would have known. The thought of that alone had Nureyev’s dick throbbing and the tenuous control over his arousal was stretched thin.

Nureyev pulled back to give Juno another hungry once-over and did a double-take. He had been so utterly distracted by the lingerie, he had somehow missed the new hardware in Juno’s nipples; he had apparently changed out the plain barbells for rose gold nipple shields in the shapes of suns that were connected to each other with a length of silver chain.

“Juno,” Nureyev groaned, bending to kiss Juno deeply, all tongue and teeth before pulling back to meet his eyes. Hooking his finger under the chain, he pulled up and out gently until Juno let out a little sob, stumbling forward on his toes. “Do you normally wear sexy lingerie to work?”

“W-wore it for you,” he replied with a whimper when Nureyev took mercy and released the chain. “Said you would be coming when the store closed. Wanted to be, y’know, prepared I guess.”

“Prepared?” Nureyev reached around Juno to grab a handful of one perfect asscheek, amazed that even fingers as long as his own couldn’t hold it all. “You had your ass out all day just for me? My, what a perfect little slut you are, Juno.”

Juno nodded frantically, his hands moving to start unbuttoning Nureyev’s shirt and tugging at the ties of the waistband on his pants.

“Only you,” Juno said so quietly, Nureyev was certain Juno hadn’t even meant to say it.

It was interesting to watch Juno as arousal took over. He wasn’t shy at all when the subject of sex came up, and it would have been amusing for Nureyev if it wasn’t already unreasonably arousing.

“Help me get these stupid pants off of you,” Juno grumbled after a few moments of struggling, bringing a grin to the thief’s lips.

“No need to rush, my love,” Nureyev purred, even as he obliged.

Over the next few frantic minutes, they worked together to get Nureyev’s clothes off. They got distracted many times as Juno would pull him down into a kiss as each new plane of pale skin was revealed. At some point, Nureyev had shimmied Juno’s panties down off his hips and freed his half-hard cock from the restrictive lace.

It wasn’t long before Nureyev was naked, holding Juno tenderly in his arms as they kissed, slow and languid. Juno tried to deepen the kiss, but Nureyev kept the pace steady which ended with Juno grumbling a litany of complaints against his lips.

Nureyev was not expecting the fingers between his legs, however. When they framed his dick and began playing with the piercing at the base of it, Nureyev moaned deeply into Juno’s mouth.

The shock that rocked up through Nureyev’s spine was intense, his knees shaking with the effort of standing, and he couldn’t stop his helpless rocking against Juno’s fingers. He was utterly lost in the delicious pleasure Juno gave him.

Swallowing thickly, Nureyev managed to repeat, “There’s no need to rush, love.”

“Not rushing anything, babe,” Juno said with an amused snort, dipping his head to take one of Nureyev’s tits into his mouth and sliding his fingers further back to press into his cunt.

However, Juno froze just before pressing inside, and Nureyev was instantly concerned and trying to break through the haze of his arousal.

“Juno? Are you okay?” he asked, and Juno didn’t reply. Instead, he traced the ladder of piercing-like implants along Nureyev’s silky inner lips. There was a matching set along the other side and Juno gasped when his fingers reached the implant at the bottom “V” of his cunt.

Nureyev squirmed and gasped at each exploratory touch, the implants sending jolts of liquid heat up his spine. By the time Juno’s fingers returned to the wet slit of his cunt, Nureyev felt like he was absolutely dripping with his need.

“Holy shit, Nureyev,” Juno whispered, slipping two of his fingers into Nureyev’s cunt and working him steadily. “Did you need this many to make your cock work?”

Nureyev tried to laugh, but the sound came out more like a broken whine. “N-no,” he answered truthfully. “But more implants makes it feel really good.”

Juno stretched up to kiss him again, their tongues meeting between them and Nureyev was suddenly very aware of Juno’s double piercing in his tongue.

“Been hot since I got dressed this morning,” Juno admitted when he pulled back to catch his breath, and the thought of Juno being half-hard all day at work had Nureyev moaning again.

“Been thinking about you,” Juno continued, confessing with a bit of a laugh and not a shred of shy embarrassment visible in his face. “Thinking about eating you out. Shit, Nureyev, I’ve been thinking about that since you fucked me.”

Nureyev was shaking as he said, “I’m sure that can, ah, be arranged at some point.”

“You’re right,” Juno groaned and then he was withdrawing his fingers from between his thighs, leaving Nureyev’s twitching cunt empty and dripping.

Nureyev took that moment to catch his breath though, stepping over the edge of the soaker tub. The detective followed him in immediately, still wearing his harness and pressed himself flush against Nureyev’s front, mouthing at his throat and collarbones needily.

Then Juno pushed him, guiding him to sit down on the window ledge. Before Nureyev could properly question him, the detective got down onto his knees in the tub and looked up at him through his lashes.

Juno was absolutely gorgeous, with much of him submerged beneath the water, hidden by rose petals and looking at Nureyev like he was the most beautiful person in the galaxy. Nureyev felt himself blushing and wanted nothing more than to get into the water with Juno and kiss him until they were both breathless.

Then Juno winked up at him before grabbing his knees firmly and pulling his hips forward on the ledge. Nureyev shouted his surprise, the sudden movement causing him to fall back against the window behind him. Before Nureyev could right himself, Juno pulled Nureyev’s knees apart, groaning at the sight of his hard dick and wet cunt.

“This okay?” Juno asked, looking up at Nureyev and the thief almost laughed.

“Yes, love, this is more than okay,” he replied, his voice barely more than a whisper as he pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose and cursed himself for forgetting to take them off.

Juno smiled before he turned his attention back to Nureyev’s crotch, slowly pushing his legs further and further apart until they were open as wide as they could stretch in the tub. The entire time, Juno’s gaze was locked onto the way the movement spread the lips of his cunt, showing off the implants.

“Holy shit, Nureyev,” Juno groaned before he rose onto his knees to mouth at the implants that lined his left hip. He stopped at each one to lick and suck it, biting the skin around it until it was reddened and sensitive, reducing Nureyev to a twitching, moaning mess. He felt close to flying apart, and Juno hadn’t even sucked his dick yet, and there was nothing to hold onto. The one time he had grabbed Juno’s head, the detective swatted his hands away.

As Juno mouthed his way lower, Nureyev was certain he was going to finally, finally get that wicked mouth where he needed it most. But Juno veered sharply to the side, showering his attentions on Nureyev’s inner thigh, biting and sucking harder to make much darker marks up and down the skin there. It was beyond excruciating, having Juno so close yet resolutely staying away from where he needed, and he nearly sobbed when Juno left off torturing one thigh to work on the other one.

“Juno,” Nureyev whimpered, his voice pleading and hands buried in his own braided hair to keep himself grounded. “Please, love, enough teasing.”

“Sorry, baby,” Juno sighed dreamily, pressing his mouth and nose to the seam of Nureyev’s thigh and pelvis, inhaling deeply through his nose. “Didn’t mean to tease. Just got distracted.”

Nureyev laughed out loud at that, shaking his head. “Distracted by my thighs?” he asked incredulously, his eyebrow raised at the goddess kneeling between his thighs, surrounded by rose petals. “They’re not even half as beautiful as yours, my dear detective.”

“That’s your opinion,” Juno said, and Nureyev’s quip back died in a gasp when the detective’s mouth sealed around his dick.

When those piercings in Juno’s tongue pressed against him, Nureyev was beside himself, making noises that were guttural, deep and punched-out. Then Juno moved lower, sliding his hands up so he could use his thumbs to pull the outer lips apart even further, giving that terrible mouth room to move up and down one ladder of implants.

Then Juno moved to the ladder on the other side, giving it the exact same treatment, and Nureyev was shaking desperately. His legs were spread wide, back against the cool window, and his dick was so hard and cunt so wet, he thought he was going to lose his mind. Juno let up on the piercings ringing his cunt, only to toy with the one at the bottom V of his opening, biting it lightly and giving it a small tug.

“Juno, my love, please!” Nureyev finally snapped, arching off the window.

Juno immediately dove tongue-first into his needy cunt, licking greedily and groaning as though he were the one being pleasured so perfectly. Nureyev’s eyes rolled back as he moaned, and Juno returned to sucking his dick instead. Before the thief could complain, Juno had pressed three fingers into him and began fingering him with steady determination.

Nureyev sobbed his pleasure, losing his mind at the obscenely wet sounds of Juno’s mouth and fingers between his legs. It was a rare thing for Nureyev to be so vocal, but he also wasn’t sure he had ever had such dedicated attention before. It was beginning to dawn on him that he likely would never be satisfied with sex ever again if it wasn’t with Juno Steel.

On the next outstroke, Juno curled his fingers and massaged Nureyev’s g-spot, and the thief’s entire world seemed to shudder with pleasure. The possibility of not being utterly ruined by the lady between his legs was slipping further out of his reach, and Nureyev truly couldn't care less.

He felt Juno smirk against his dick, and Nureyev realized he had said most of that out loud, and his face burned a bit. Forcing himself to calm down, Nureyev looked down the length of his body and gasped as his eyes locked with the detective’s. Juno’s were half-lidded, his brow dappled with sweat, and he was impossibly beautiful.

Nureyev felt his gut tighten, his release building rapidly.

“I’m close, my love,” Nureyev cried, and Juno winked up at him.

The thief was not prepared for Juno when he actively began to chase Nureyev’s release. The detective moaned thickly and sucked and lapped at Nureyev’s dick with increased fervour while his fingers applied relentless pressure to that perfect spot inside him, massaging it firmly. His orgasm came on almost instantly, and before he realized it, his hands were on the back of Juno’s head and his legs wrapped tightly around him, holding Juno in place as he all but sobbed through it.

Nureyev was floating when he felt Juno extricate himself from between his thighs and slip his fingers out of his cunt. After a few moments to catch his breath, Juno coaxed Nureyev to slide into the bath with him, where Nureyev leaned back against the wall and tried to settle his breathing. The entire inner lip of the tub was cushioned, for which Nureyev was grateful as he laid his head against it.

It wasn’t long before Nureyev found his mouth captured in a demanding, hungry kiss, which he returned more than happily. Juno’s mouth was wet, his lips slick and salty, and he could feel the detective rutting his hard cock against his thigh. With his head still swimming from his own release, all Nureyev could think about was getting his mouth on Juno’s cock as soon as possible.

“Stand up,” he gasped when they parted for breath, pushing his glasses on top of his head. When Juno laughed and tried for another kiss, Nureyev pinched his ass harshly. “Stand up, pet.”

Juno choked out a laugh, though there was something distinctly interested in his gaze. “Pushy much?” he asked as he did as he was told, only pausing to give Nureyev a quick kiss on the cheek.

The moment Juno stood, Nureyev wrapped his lip over his teeth and grabbed Juno’s ass, pulling the detective forward and into his mouth. With a moan, Nureyev did not stop until he felt Juno in his throat, his lips around the base of his cock.

Juno sobbed, and it was music to Nureyev’s ears as he held the detective in place with both hands while he flexed his throat around him. He was almost annoyed when the need to breathe arose and he had to back off to pull some air in desperately through his nose. Looking up at Juno through his lashes, Nureyev began to guide Juno’s hips, encouraging him to thrust deeply and hard.

But when Nureyev let go, Juno hesitated with an expression conflicted enough to concern Nureyev.

Pulling off of Juno, Nureyev cleared his throat a few times. “What’s wrong, love?” he asked, his voice hoarse, as he pet Juno’s flank soothingly.

Juno bit the inside of his cheek and took a deep breath. “I don’t… can you tell me what you want right now?” Juno asked nervously. “So I’m not… guessing?”

Nureyev smiled up at him, hoping the complete adoration he felt for the beautiful lady was clear. 

“Oh, love, of course,” Nureyev said happily, kissing and biting at Juno’s hip briefly before licking a teasing line up the side of Juno’s cock. At Juno’s shuddery moan, Nureyev pulled back and looked up at him sharply through his lashes. “Simply put, I would like you to fuck my face, goddess.”

“Oh, fuck,” Juno gasped, licking his lips and shuddering when Nureyev pressed a wet, sucking kiss to the head of his cock.

“You can be as rough as you like, go as deep as you like, whatever you need to get off,” Nureyev continued, tapping Juno’s hip three times as he said, “I’ll tap out like so if I need a break. Are you comfortable with that, Juno?”

“Yes,” he breathed, and Nureyev took him deeply again, and this time Juno did not hesitate.

Things escalated quickly from there, and Juno eventually ended up leaning over Nureyev’s head, holding himself up with one hand on the window, and the other tangled in his braided hair. The detective had one knee up on the edge of the tub for a bit more support while he thrust into Nureyev’s mouth, fucking his throat.

Nureyev groaned around the detective’s cock and gently pushed a single wet finger into Juno’s entrance and immediately found his prostate. He massaged it relentlessly, moaning as Juno thrust hard enough into his mouth to gag him, and swiped his thumb across the piercing in his taint.

“Fuck, baby, I’m—” was all Juno could manage before he cuts himself off with a near-scream.

Juno’s hips snapped forward a handful of times, the head of his cock hitting the back of Nureyev’s throat and gagging him perfectly, his eyes rolling back. He could feel Juno’s orgasm before he tasted it, his ass clenching around his finger, and his cock pulsing against his lips.

With a wail, Juno twisted Nureyev’s hair and snapped his hips forward one last time, gagging Nureyev again as his cum hit the back of his throat. Mouth filling with Juno’s salty cum, he worked to swallow, and could feel some of it trickle out of the corner of his mouth. He felt like he was in heaven, hardly able to breathe around the mouthful of cock and cum Juno was feeding him.

When Juno went to pull out, Nureyev stopped him when he was able to breathe and swallow properly. He happily sucked the softening cock while he massaged Juno’s prostate, milking his orgasm for all it was worth until Juno whimpered at the overstimulation.

Nureyev backed off of the detective’s cock with a wet pop and carefully withdrew his finger, sighing when Juno carefully slid down onto his lap in the pleasant water. Juno nuzzled his throat before pulling back to meet Nureyev’s gaze and smirking.

“You’ve got a little something,” Juno said, motioning at the corner of Nureyev’s mouth and leaning in. He lapped up his own spend on the way to capturing the thief’s mouth in a kiss. Nureyev laughed a bit and then moaned softly at the taste of Juno on his own tongue.

* * *

next

They sat in the bathtub for some time, slowly making out while they caught their breath after their impromptu romp. Nureyev was floating above the clouds it seemed, weightless and blissed-out with his lady in his lap and in his arms.

Juno made a small sound in his throat at one particularly languid pass of Nureyev’s tongue and squirmed against him. Heat was building again, and Nureyev was happy to be swept away by it again. He knew there was a reason not to, but he couldn’t be bothered to remember it when Juno shifted to straddle his lap, sitting flush to his front and playing with his tits idly.

“The hell was that?”

Nureyev actually whined when Juno wrenched away from his mouth, and he chased after the kiss. His lips found Juno’s throat instead, which was perfectly fine for him.

“Duke, knock it off, I heard something!” Juno hissed and that caught Nureyev’s attention.

Pulling away, Nureyev and Juno sat quietly for a few moments, listening to the sound of movement in the living room. At a sound that was clearly the clinking of cutlery and crystal, Nureyev cringed.

“That is likely the serving staff,” he said slowly, tipping his head back against the cushioned lip of the tub and closing his eyes. “Delivering our food.”

“Duke… did you close any of the doors coming in here?” Juno asked quietly, drawing the question out and pulling a chuckle from Nureyev. 

“I did not,” he confessed. “I foolishly had not planned for us to have… appetizers, so to speak.”

“So they heard at least some of that?”

There was something odd in Juno’s tone, and Nureyev opened his eyes again to meet his gaze, worried that Juno was upset. “It’s entirely likely,” he replied carefully.

Nureyev did not miss the look of intense interest that crossed Juno’s face, and he was a little shocked that the detective would be inclined toward a bit of exhibitionism. Then again, he thought, Juno had been the one to wear fancy lingerie to work under a sweater-dress that barely covered his ass. Excitement pulsed through Nureyev at the thought of Juno wanting to show off a bit, about taking Juno where they might get caught, where they could be heard and possibly seen.

He quickly filed that away, however, taking a deep breath to calm himself before he got too hot again.

“Perhaps we should wash up while we wait for them to leave?” Nureyev suggested, and Juno nodded quickly, smiling openly at the thief.

They took their time wiping each other down, slowly kissing while they did. Nureyev paid special attention to Juno, keeping his touches light and chaste, though their intent for later were quite clear. Juno leaned heavily against him, accepting the pampering with a sigh while he mouthed at Nureyev’s pulse.

When they had finished up, Nureyev cradled Juno’s cheek gently and smiled lightly when their gazes met again. Juno leaned forward with a sigh, and Nureyev happily accepted the slow, sweet kiss, wrapping his detective in his arms loosely. It was utterly perfect, and Nureyev almost cursed when the noises from the living room quieted and they heard the door to the hallway close.

“I think it is safe to get out now, dear,” he murmured against Juno’s lips, gently pushing him away and encouraging him to stand up.

Juno grumbled as he did, unclipping the collar of his harness and peeling it off of himself. Nureyev watched Juno move around the bathroom in all of his naked glory with an appreciative eye as he got out of the tub. 

“I have something else for you to wear this evening,” Nureyev said as Juno moved to grab his sweater-dress off the ground, touching his arm lightly and smiling when the detective looked up at him questioningly. “It’s in the closet just inside the room. I’ll meet you at the dinner table.”

Juno blinked up at him, a bit dazed by the gentle commands, and nodded as he returned the smile.

Nureyev watched the detective leave before he turned to the cabinet in the bathroom, where he kept his own outfit for the evening. 

It could hardly be called an “outfit,” though.

After seeing Juno in his harness on their first date, Nureyev simply had to get his own, a sleek black and gold number that had straps and the gold detailing all the way down to mid-thigh. The embroidered design decorated his abdomen with a chevron that ended just below his sternum, framing his pelvis along the outside edge of the piercings lining his hips.

Over the harness, Nureyev pulled on a short, sheer black robe which tied shut at the waist with a thick black ribbon. The entire back of the robe was lace and completely see-through, showing off all of the straps of his harness where they hugged his pale skin. 

Slipping his glasses back onto his face, Nureyev looked around the room and made a face at the smudges, huffing with some annoyance. He picked his pants up off the floor and dug for the cloth he kept specially for cleaning them, cursing his hoarding tendencies for the first time in his decades-long career. After a few too many moments of struggling, Nureyev made a small sound of triumph when his fingers finally closed around the little scrap of material.

Wiping his glasses clean and putting them back on, he completed the ensemble with a pair of black silk slippers. Then, fixing his braid, Nureyev walked out to the living room to join his lover.

Nureyev was nearly winded at the sight of Juno as he stood by the windows and looked out over Hyperion City in the long, sleeveless robe Nureyev had bought him. The fabric was gauzy and pale pink, sheer enough to see the outline of Juno’s legs through it with the neon of the city shining in on him.

Juno must have heard him and turned around a bit with a warm smile. Nureyev could see a hint of the new harness he procured for Juno through the V of the robe, pink and cream flowers decorating his chest and ending in a pretty collar of flowers at the base of his throat. The robe itself was tied by three delicate ribbons at the thick panel of pink and blue flowery lace just above Juno’s natural waist.

Nureyev wanted nothing more than to untie those little ribbons and devour Juno.

When he finally snapped himself out of his own thoughts, he realized Juno was staring. Their gazes met in the next moment and they both swallowed thickly. Juno’s expression was so beautiful, full of want and love, that Nureyev was ready to forgo every plan he had to leave the next day and stay.

Juno cleared his throat and he glanced away. “The hell do you have such long legs for, Nureyev?” Juno asked, his tone so offended and accusatory that Nureyev couldn’t help the laugh that escaped him.

“And why are yours so thick and enticing?” the thief countered, looking pointedly at where he could see Juno’s gorgeous thighs through the opening of his robe.

Juno merely bit the inside of his cheek, and the smirk he wore was tinged with something distinctly pleased.

Nureyev motioned at the table set with their dinner and asked, “Care to join me, dear?”

Juno smirked and crossed the room. “Thought you’d never ask,” he teased and sat down.

Their dinner was quite lovely, filled with casual chatter, laughter, and more than a few glasses of champagne. Juno looked so happy and relaxed across from him, smiling and laughing openly. Nureyev couldn’t help but watch him dreamily as he animatedly told a story from his childhood.

Juno looked so beautiful in the dim, amber lighting of the living room, and Nureyev’s heart ached with the weight of knowing he could not keep him.

Nureyev remembered the pleading “I love you’s” from the sewers as Juno ended his story, and he placed his glass on the table.

“Juno, I distinctly remember I had asked you to accompany me to a gala,” Nureyev started, drawing it out only in part to enjoy the way Juno pouted. “I had done so with the hope that I would have the honour of dancing with you.”

Juno cringed. “Yeah?”

Nureyev nodded and stood, his gut churning with anxiety about what he was about to do for the first time that evening. Offering his hand to Juno, he asked, “May I have this dance?”

“Here?” Juno asked, biting the inside of his cheek. “Now?”

“There’s music, there’s space, and there’s two of us,” Nureyev replied, smiling winningly down at Juno, even as his stomach roiled. He was only comforted a small amount by Juno’s hungry look at his new teeth. “So why not here? Why not now?”

Juno made a face of mock disapproval, but accepted the offered hand and allowed Nureyev to tug him in close. They were hardly dancing, only holding each other and gently rocking, but for Nureyev it was perfect. When he looked down at the detective, he could see tears in Juno’s eyes, belying once again just how much he loved it. It only took a few slow turns for Juno to melt completely against Nureyev with a sigh, resting his ear against the thief’s chest.

They danced together quietly while Nureyev contemplated how best to bring up what he heard in the sewers. He didn’t want to scare Juno off, but Nureyev couldn’t leave Mars without telling the beautiful detective the depths of his own feelings.

“Juno, I wanted to ask you about something,” Nureyev started tentatively, and frowned when Juno tensed in his arms.

“Mm-hmm?” Juno prompted, and Nureyev really wished he’d started this when he could see the detective’s face.

“Well, it’s more I would like to tell you something, but,” he babbled a bit nervously before he took a deep, calming breath that did nothing to help calm him, and said, “I remember hearing you say something in the sewers before I passed out.”

Juno went rigid and pulled back, though they did not pause in their dance. Nureyev’s stomach twisted when he realized that Juno had that unreadable expression on his face that he’d only seen once before.

When he had told him his name and confessed to working for the people who ruined his life. 

“You do?” Juno asked, his voice flat and Nureyev realized too late he had brought it up all wrong and began scrambling internally for the words to defuse the situation.

“Yes,” Nureyev said after taking a deep breath. “I was still lucid enough to hear you, when you said you lo—”

“Shit, I didn’t—” Juno hissed, pulling out of the embrace, and Nureyev let him. Then he growled at himself, “Shit, Steel, there you go ruining things again.”

Nureyev stepped forward and gently grabbed Juno’s hand. “Juno, just let me finish—”

Juno wrenched his hand away and looked around the room. His expression was so intensely sad for just a second that Nureyev felt his own eyes prickle with tears. Then the shutters behind Juno’s gaze slammed down, and when Juno’s eyes met his again, he saw anger.

“I always do this, get too attached, too soon and then—” Juno muttered, mostly to himself before cutting off with a bitter laugh and eye-roll. “That’s why you did this, isn’t it?”

“Well, the short answer is yes, Juno, but—”

“All of this, it’s all just a joke. Or I’m an easy lay until you find the next stupid sap on some other stupid planet who’ll spread their legs for you,” Juno spat, but then his expression changed, filling with something like humiliation. “Or worse, you felt bad.”

“Juno, please—” Nureyev began, reaching for the detective again, frustration building in him when Juno stepped away from him. For how intelligent and logical he knew Juno to be most of the time, Nureyev was genuinely surprised by his commitment to jumping to the worst possible conclusions if the truth meant happiness for him.

“That’s it, isn’t it,” Juno cut him off again, and though he worded it like a question, it was spoken as an accusation with such bitter anger that Nureyev almost flinched. “You feel bad for me because I was stupid enough to fall in lo— fall for you in two weeks like some fucking teenager. About what the Piranha said about my ex. About my eye. All of it.”

Nureyev’s thoughts were swirling as he felt everything falling apart. He loved Juno deeply and fully, and he had desperately needed him to know it, but now their last few hours together were unravelling because he tried to say it. He berated himself for his impulsiveness, for jumping the gun and breaking the fragile truce he’d come to with Juno’s sense of self-worth.

He wanted to drop it and ask Juno to forget he had said anything, but the longer Nureyev said nothing, the surer Juno became in his conviction.

Tears brimmed Juno’s eyes when Nureyev met his gaze again for just a moment before he strengthened his glare.

“Admit it, Nureyev,” Juno demanded, crossing his arms over his middle.

Nureyev reached forward to grab Juno’s hand with both of his and held tight when the detective tried to pull it away again. “Juno, I promise—”

“Just admit it, Nureyev!” Juno all but growled, fighting the grip on his hand.

“You won’t even allow me a word in edgewise, Juno, even for that much!” Nureyev snapped, not quite yelling but close to it, and Juno’s mouth shut with an audible click.

Nureyev softened, pulling Juno closer and cradling his jaw gently in one hand while the other wrapped around his waist. He held tight when Juno made a half-hearted attempt at breaking free, and after a few moments Juno’s breath left him in whoosh. 

When the detective relaxed almost completely against him, Nureyev felt hopeful that he could turn this evening around for both of them.

“You are so clever, so good, and absolutely gorgeous, Juno,” Nureyev said fondly. “You are also frustratingly committed to self-sabotage, love.”

Juno pulled a face, and he looked almost embarrassed. “What the—”

“No, I’m talking now, detective,” Nureyev said sternly, and Juno instantly closed his mouth again. “Do you truly believe I would do all of this for you as a… a pity fuck?”

“Wouldn’t be the first time, Nureyev,” Juno snapped. “Had a guy almost marry me, and it turned out he only stuck around as long as he did because he felt bad for me.”

Nureyev felt rage wash over him at that, wanting to know the name and last known location of Juno’s former fiance. Perhaps this was information he could get from Benten or Rita before he left, he thought briefly but dismissed it in favour of focusing on the conversation at hand.

“Juno, I would never do that to you,” he said instead, tone gentle and earnest. “This isn’t a pity fuck, I’m not using you, I’m— if you wanted to leave right now, I wouldn’t stop you. You could walk right out that door, and that would be the end of it. You’ll never hear from me again.”

Juno bit the inside of his cheek and glanced around. For a heart-stopping moment, it looked like Juno would actually pull away and get changed. Nureyev was prepared to stand by his promise, but he felt gutted at the mere thought of having to.

Then Juno sighed and closed his eyes, tilting his head to lean into Nureyev’s palm, and asked so quietly Nureyev almost couldn’t hear him over the music, “What the hell else is this, then?”

Nureyev lifted his other hand to cradle his face in both, lifting Juno’s gaze to his own again. “I’ve done all of this—the room, the clothes, the dinner—as well as given you my name, Juno, because,” Nureyev paused to take a deep breath, “I believe I’ve fallen in love with you as well.”

Juno sucked in a harsh breath through his nose, a tear falling as he quietly asked, “W-what?”

Nureyev wiped the tear away with this thumb with a gentle smile. “I love you, Juno. I thought that much was obvious since our first night, but I suppose you could benefit from hearing it being said.”

“B-but you— that— you barely know me,” he stammered, trying to look away but Nureyev held fast.

“You know even less about me, Juno,” Nureyev pointed out with a raised eyebrow. “Yet you love me?”

“That’s different,” he said stubbornly, and Nureyev’s heart broke.

“How is it different, Juno?” he asked gently. “If you truly believe that, help me to understand it.”

Juno let out a gusty sigh and his eyes teared up even more. Seeing both eyes—one a deep blue and the other murky white—glassy with unshed tears had rage boiling in his gut all over again. He wanted to hurt every single person who taught someone as beautiful, and good, and caring as Juno to feel shame and guilt for being told he was loved.

And suddenly Nureyev understood why Juno couldn’t readily accept his confession; Juno saw himself as inherently unworthy of love and affection while giving himself completely to everyone, hoping they would finally see he had something to offer. That was where it made sense to Juno that he could fall in love with someone he barely knew, but those feelings could not be reciprocated.

“It’s just different,” Juno repeated firmly and with such finality that Nureyev knew he couldn’t push for a proper answer without damaging something between them beyond repair.

So Nureyev stepped closer to Juno instead, their bodies pressed flush together again. “Do you trust me, Juno?” he asked, stroking both of the detective’s cheeks with his thumbs.

“Yes,” Juno said without hesitation.

“Do you trust that I wouldn’t lie about something important?” he asked, and when Juno’s expression twisted, he added, “If we were having any other conversation right now, would you trust I was being honest with all of the important details?”

“Yeah,” Juno answered quietly, almost reluctantly.

“Then allow me to put things into perspective for you,” Nureyev said earnestly, meeting Juno’s gaze and holding it. “You are the first person to have learned my real name with my consent in twenty years.”

Juno took a shaky breath, and though his expression was still sceptical, it was also so soft. Nureyev could see that Juno wanted to believe everything, that he wanted to accept what he was offering, so Nureyev continued.

“Do you think a master thief would have risked courting you the way I had just for fun?” Nureyev asked, and did not wait for Juno to respond before he wrapped an arm around his waist. “I have given you the key to a past I’ve tried to bury, as well as the very thread that could unravel my entire career for the past twenty years.”

Juno looked up at him, his expression unreadable as he lifted a hand to cover Nureyev’s still cradling his cheek.

“Look me in the eye and tell me none of that means anything, Juno,” Nureyev offered, and shivered when Juno closed his eyes and turned his head just enough to press his lips to the middle of his palm. “I wouldn’t give any of that to just anyone, Juno.”

Juno was quiet for what felt like an eternity, his eyes closed and breathing softly against Nureyev’s palm. Eventually, the detective sighed and kissed him gently before turning to meet Nureyev’s gaze.

“You’re about to sign up for one hell of a time trying to convince me, Nureyev,” Juno said lightly, and though it was said as a joke, Nureyev could tell he was also completely serious.

Nureyev smiled broadly and stooped to kiss Juno, sweet and chaste.

“Then I gladly accept that challenge, starting tonight,” Nureyev said against Juno’s lips before kissing his way up his cheek, taking a small detour to press a light kiss just below Juno’s right eye. He finished his journey at the hinge of Juno’s jaw and whispered, “I love you, Juno Steel.”

Juno exhaled sharply and sobbed, angling his mouth up for the searching, needy kiss Nureyev had for him.

“I love you…” Juno whispered when they pulled apart for air, and very quietly, almost reluctantly, he added, “Too. I love you, too.”

The quiet concession, even if it was clear he didn’t quite believe it but was willing to try, made Nureyev’s heart pound and butterflies burst to life in his gut. Just hearing those three words again, this time when he was meant to hear them and he wasn’t knocking on Death’s door, brought tears to Nureyev’s eyes.

It was at that moment when Nureyev realized, or allowed himself to realize, that he hadn’t let himself get close enough to anyone since Mag to be loved. He kept himself unreachable and unknowable for twenty years, leaving Mag as the last person to have said they loved him and meant it.

Several moments of heart-stopping terror followed that revelation, and Nureyev wanted to run from it. He did the calculations instantly; he knew the flight schedule for every ship off of Mars by heart for the next week and a half, and with a good distraction, he could catch one within the hour. His fingers itched for his comms and he instinctively began to slip out of Juno’s arms, pretty words and a prettier lie already on the tip of his tongue.

Juno pulled him in tighter, however, clinging to him as he brought their lips together again, and Nureyev was shaken from his thoughts.

“Shit,” Juno all but sobbed against his lips, laughing wetly as tears fell down his cheeks. “I love you, Nureyev.”

Just like that, Nureyev dumped every contingency plan and escape route he had drawn up. There Juno was, giving him everything he had, and Nureyev was thinking of leaving him with nothing. Master thief though he may be, Nureyev was determined to not become one of the people to steal Juno’s heart. He would make a fair trade for it, give himself to Juno, and share the heartbreak of their parting.

Nureyev recognized the desire to run, to leave and never look back, but he knew that he would never be able to compartmentalize his love for Juno.

At Juno’s shivery whine, Nureyev hauled him up into his arms and groaned when Juno’s legs locked around his waist. With one arm around Juno’s waist, and his other hand holding his thigh, Nureyev stumbled in the direction of the bedroom. Juno’s hands were in his hair, messing his braid up and pulling on the freed strands, and Nureyev couldn’t help the soft, needy sounds he was making. Losing focus and rapidly losing his balance, Nureyev stopped just outside the bedroom, and pinned Juno against the wall next to the double-doors, licking deep into Juno’s mouth while he slid his hand up to grope at his ass.

When Juno turned his face away to catch his breath, Nureyev latched onto his throat, kissing, biting, and licking the length of it, paying extra attention to the underside of his jaw when Juno’s cries grew higher in pitch.

“N’reyev, the bed,” Juno whimpered and Nureyev moaned his agreement into the bruise he had just worried into Juno’s skin.

After a few more stumbling moments and close calls, Nureyev found the bed, which was tall enough that Juno was almost sitting on it already when he let him go. As he stepped back a couple paces, Juno looked up at him with eyes still glassy with unshed tears, but the softest smile Nureyev had ever seen on his face. Juno reached out to hold Nureyev’s hand, as if needing some sort of physical contact and Nureyev could understand.

Stroking the back of Juno’s hand with this thumb, Nureyev asked, “How do you want to spend the rest of our evening, my love?”

With a shiver, Juno shifted onto his knees to undo the belt of Nureyev’s robe and admired the view as it fell open. Nureyev shuddered a bit as the silky material slipped down his arms and pooled around his feet. Juno pressed in for another kiss, wrapping one arm around Nureyev’s shoulders and walking the other down his stomach teasingly.

“Think it’s pretty obvious what I want, Nureyev,” Juno replied cheekily as his fingers reached his lower abdomen.

“Use your words, dear,” Nureyev scolded lightly, grabbing Juno’s wrist gently. “Or you get nothing at all.”

Juno huffed, but it had no heat to it. Nureyev did not doubt that Juno was a bit frustrated—used to being tipped over and tumbled without ceremony as he was—but he also knew Juno thoroughly enjoyed being told what to do.

“Do I have to do this every time?” Juno asked with a pout.

“With me?” Nureyev replied with a chuckle, stooping to kiss Juno’s cheek. “Yes.”

Juno shivered and nodded, chewing the inside of his cheek before he pressed up against Nureyev, both arms around his shoulders as he untied the ribbon holding Nureyev’s braid together.

“I-I want you to fuck me into this mattress until the neighbours complain,” Juno whispered in a bit of a rush, and Nureyev’s breath hitched.

“The sound-proofing in this hotel is almost absolute, dear detective,” Nureyev responded huskily.

Juno laughed lightly before looking up at Nureyev coyly through his lashes. “I’m sure it is,” he said softly and deliberately.

Nureyev groaned and recaptured Juno’s lips, bringing both hands up to cradle the back of his head and keep him there while he kissed the breath from his lungs.

“I’m sure we can work something out,” Nureyev all but growled between kisses and swallowed Juno’s excited laugh.

_** [click to skip smut] ** _

* * *

Juno slid back on the bed, Nureyev crawling up after him, their mouths moving sloppily against one another with their need.

Once they were on the bed and they parted for breath, Nureyev crawled over to a flat ledge that ran between the mattress and the wall of windows. There was a metal case there, which he collected quickly before tugging the curtains of the canopy into place. They were enclosed between the gentle, twinkling lights in the gauzy fabric and the windows overlooking Hyperion City.

“Can people see in?” Juno asked, and Nureyev chuckled as he turned to face him. The detective was watching him, his eyes half-lidded as they roved over his body, lingering on the junction between his thighs. He was chewing on the inside of his cheek, clearly nervous by the prospect of being seen so publicly. 

Nureyev, however, remembered the clear interest Juno had shown when he realized they had likely been overheard in the tub.

“The windows are the same state of the art technology used on all the best pleasure planets,” Nureyev replied, his voice deep and sultry as he put his glasses down on the ledge and crawled back to Juno, smirking at the way the detective’s breath hitched at his approach. “It’s some sort of mirror tech that allows us to see out, but no one can see in, even if they were to press their face up to the glass.”

“So, we get the illusion of showing off?” Juno whispered shakily as Nureyev hovered a breath away from kissing him again.

“There are usually different settings,” Nureyev replied with a smirk. “I doubt there is a fully transparent option here, but there might be a setting so our silhouettes would be visible from the outside.”

Juno shivered a bit at that with a quiet, “Oh?”

“Juno, my love,” Nureyev groaned, kissing his detective searchingly for a few moments. “Do you want people to see me fuck you?”

“Nureyev,” Juno whined, his brow furrowed with conflicting emotions.

“Perhaps we can revisit that thought later,” Nureyev offered soothingly, cradling Juno’s face in his hands and kissing him soundly. When he pulled back, he said, “No need to decide anything like that right now.”

Releasing Juno, Nureyev opened the metal case and lifted his strap and a bottle of lube out of it. At seeing the whole thing for the first time, Juno sucked in a sharp breath through his nose. Before Nureyev could register what was happening, Juno had surged forward for a deep kiss and was taking the cock out of his hand.

“Let me help you?” he asked softly against Nureyev’s lips, the fingers of his free hand crawling down his stomach again. Nureyev’s cunt throbbed so hot and wet at his request, he was sure his thighs would be slick with his need soon.

“Of course, love,” Nureyev replied in a low voice, shuddering when Juno crowds closer against his front. There was already a hand between his thighs, two fingers slipping into him easily.

Juno hummed thoughtfully, smirking at the sound Nureyev made as his fingertips found his g-spot. “Not wet enough,” he murmured, pulling away to look at the cock in his hand, turning it this way and that to observe it from all angles. “The knob is pretty thick.”

Nureyev shivered, and chuckled, “That’s what the lube is for.”

“I’m not using the lube, babe,” Juno said, shaking his head and winking.

Next thing Nureyev knew, he was sprawled backward on the bed gracelessly after a gentle shove against his chest, looking up at the canopy above him. As he was pushing himself up onto his elbows to look at Juno, a hot mouth sealed around his dick and sent all thought careening out of his head.

“Yes, Juno,” Nureyev gasped, throwing his head back and reaching down with one hand to hold the back of Juno’s head. “Oh, your mouth is so perfect, love. Such a good girl, yes, just like that.”

Nureyev was babbling, overwhelmed as he was with the way Juno worked him, that double-piercing in his tongue somehow feeling even better than it had during their time in the bath. Meanwhile, Juno fucked his cunt with his fingers, already three deep. Every few pushes into Nureyev, Juno would twist his hand and make room enough for his tongue to lick as deeply into his cunt as he could.

It was obscene, the sounds of Juno’s fingers inside him and his mouth on his dick, and they only made Nureyev hotter and wetter. It was almost embarrassing how quickly Nureyev found himself on the edge of his orgasm, his entire body shaking with his pleasure and thighs shivering around Juno’s ears.

When Juno’s thumb swiped over the implant at the bottom V of his cunt, Nureyev gasped raggedly and arched his back sharply, his elbow slipping out from under him.

“Juno! I’m not—I’m going to—ah!” Nureyev gasped out, shouting as Juno began sucking his dick earnestly. Both of his hands were on Juno’s head, torn between either pulling him in closer or pushing him away. “My love, I’m—I won’t last!”

Juno pulled off of his dick, but continued to fuck Nureyev with his fingers, curling his fingers on every outstroke to massage his g-spot. “Can you come more than once?” Juno asked and heat pulsed through Nureyev.

He looked down at Juno and the sight of him with his face wet with slick hit Nureyev like a blow to the gut.

Nodding frantically, Nureyev whined, “Yes, I can, but—”

“Do you want me to stop sucking your dick right now?” Juno asked, and the question was so blunt that it actually brought a dark blush to Nureyev’s face.

He was so close to the edge, and Juno’s mouth felt so good. He wanted so desperately to come on that tongue again.

“Don’t stop,” Nureyev growled, and he nearly shouted when Juno returned to his ministrations with renewed enthusiasm.

Nureyev arched off of the bed, his toes curling into the duvet as he writhed under Juno’s tongue. He was panting, his breath hitching as he climbed closer to his release and Juno did not let up. Every exhale was soon punctuated with a moan, his cunt pulsing around the three fingers fucking him open, and his orgasm was suddenly upon him.

Nureyev curled in on himself, hands on the back of Juno’s head holding him in place and thighs clapping around him as the coil in his gut pulled tight. Then it snapped, and with a guttural sound Nureyev arched and writhed as he shook apart, sobbing his love for the detective into the musky air around them.

When Juno pulled off his dick with a little pop, Nureyev let his legs fall back open so Juno could pull back completely. When Juno’s fingers withdrew, they seemed to bring with them a torrent of his slick, and Nureyev wasn’t sure he had ever been so wet in his life. 

While Nureyev caught his breath, he looked down at Juno where he knelt between his legs and watched as he picked up his cock again and looked it over. Juno’s fingers, still shiny and wrinkled from being inside Nureyev, spread some of the slick over the round, thick knob. It was the part of the cock that would connect the whole neural network set by the implants, centralizing the sensation to his genitals. When Juno put his mouth on the knob, lapping at the slick he had smeared, Nureyev couldn’t help his desperate moan.

Juno’s gaze flashed up to meet his at the sound, and with a knowing smirk, he lowered the knob to Nureyev’s cunt and pushed it inside. Nureyev absolutely shook as it slid in easier than ever, his pussy making an almost embarrassingly wet noise as it sank home.

“So, how do we activate this?” Juno asked as he did up the little straps around Nureyev’s hips and thighs.

Nureyev shuddered and said, “H-hold it as deep as you c-can, and stroke the cock three times.”

“How quick do you start to feel it after it activates?” Juno asked.

Nureyev swallowed thickly, distinctly aware of the thick flare of his cock stretching his cunt open, and tried to think of a proper answer for Juno’s question. “I don’t know, never timed it. Doesn’t take long.”

Juno merely nodded and hummed, and before Nureyev could question him, he pushed the knob deep inside him and stroked it three times. On the third stroke, Nureyev felt the shock of the system kicking on and threw his head back with a gasp, the shivery ghosts of sensation making Nureyev feel like he was floating.

Then there was a jolt of intense pleasure that slammed into him, wrenching a sob from him. He forced himself to look down at his lover, gasping as another jolt rocked through him, and found Juno with his mouth around his cock, sucking it in earnest.

Nureyev shuddered and reached down to shove at Juno’s head. “Juno, stop—”

Juno pulled off quickly and sat up, looking concerned and sick with guilt. “Shit, Nureyev, I’m sorry, I should’ve asked—”

“No, no, it’s fine,” Nureyev interrupted with a smile, pausing to swallow and let out a shaky breath. The aftershocks of his orgasm were still shuddering through him, and coupled with his cock connecting to his nervous system, he was quickly overwhelmed with stimulation. Letting out another sigh, he said, “Coming with the strap is different. More intense. So, if you want me to fuck you tonight, you can’t be doing too much of that.”

“Oh,” Juno murmured in response, sitting back on his heels while Nureyev sat up. Once he was sitting up, he grabbed Juno by the belt of his robe and pulled him forward into a kiss, moaning at the taste of himself.

Juno’s hands rose to grab at his tits, brushing the pads of his thumbs across his nipples while he opened to Nureyev’s kiss. The attention was lovely, of course, pulling a sigh from him, but Juno seemed to catch on to his lack of interest and pulled back.

“Do you want me to stop?” he asked, moving his thumbs back and forth to demonstrate, and Nureyev shivered a bit.

“Not at all, love,” he replied, a bit puzzled.

“You just—do you like this? Me grabbing your tits?” Juno elaborated, biting the inside of his cheek and Nureyev chuckled.

“I love your hands on me, everywhere,” Nureyev said before shrugging one shoulder. “My tits just aren’t very sensitive. Now yours, however…”

Nureyev trailed off as he lifted his hands to touch Juno’s nipples through the gauzy fabric of his robe, delighting in the sounds his lover made.

“Have you always been so sensitive?” Nureyev asked, genuinely curious.

“Yeah, guess so. The piercings helped,” Juno replied, making a face. “So you’re seriously not that sensitive here?”

As he said “here”, Juno caught Nureyev’s nipples in a sharp pinch each, starting with one and then the other in quick succession. Nureyev sucked a sharp breath in through his nose as the shock of pain went straight to his dick.

“Interesting,” Juno hummed, and then that perfect mouth was on his chest, wrapping around one of his nipples while he plucked, pinched, and lightly twisted the other one with his hand. 

Nureyev gasped as teeth scraped at the pebbled nub of his nipple before Juno sucked it roughly. The attention was intense, painful, and it went straight to his dick. Then Juno switched, his mouth sealing wetly around the nipple he had been agitating with his fingers and treating it to the same rough affection.

“Oh, Juno,” Nureyev moaned before shuddering when Juno pinched the nipple still shiny with his spit. Juno chuckled and twisted a bit, pulling a startled shout from Nureyev.

It was overwhelming, the way the pain made his dick throb and his eyes roll back, and Nureyev almost wanted to laugh. Of course it would be Juno to show him every other lover just hadn’t tried hard enough.

When Juno pulled away to observe his handiwork, Nureyev’s tits felt hot and swollen. Looking down he shivered at how pink his skin had gone in places, the forming bruises where Juno had bitten and sucked on him harder or longer.

“Let’s see if you’re still not that sensitive,” Juno murmured cheekily, and then gently brushed his thumbs across the reddened, raw nipples, and a shock ran through Nureyev. It was like a live wire had been attached between his chest and his dick, pulling a startled sob from Nureyev. He could hear Juno laughing, and he blushed hotly. Juno hummed a bit and asked, “How’s that, babe?”

The question was so smug, Nureyev rolled his eyes and captured Juno’s mouth in a kiss. If that was even a fraction of how Juno felt while his tits were played with, perhaps he was onto something with the piercings.

When Nureyev pulled away, breathless and shuddering as Juno continued to play with his nipples, he whispered, “Go lay up at the pillows, my love.”

He turned away from Juno, knocking his hands away as he did so, to locate the lube. It wasn’t far, but it was buried in the messy folds of the duvet. When he turned back to his lover, Juno was lounging back on his elbows with his legs spread and bent slightly, the drape of his robe held open to show off his lower half quite nicely.

Juno was stunning in the dim amber glow, backlit by the city lights, his dark skin contrasting beautifully against the pale pinks of his robe and harness. He had put the panties from earlier back on, and the way his cock strained against the lacy pouch of them made Nureyev’s mouth water. The memory of how that cock felt in his throat was still fresh in his mind, and he wanted to taste him again.

Nureyev surged forward, lips and teeth against Juno’s jaw, throat, and collarbone with a desperate fervour, and he remembered belatedly to take care with his new teeth. Juno didn’t seem to have any complaints, however, letting his elbows slip out from beneath him and spreading his legs even wider for Nureyev to slot in between them. They both groaned at the delicious press against each other.

Juno reached up to bury his hands in Nureyev’s hair, holding him desperately as Nureyev worried another bruise over his pulse. With a pleading whine, Juno pulled Nureyev away from his throat to capture his lips in a needy kiss. As their mouths moved sloppily together, the hands in his hair pulled hard enough to drag a shaky, breathless sound from the thief’s throat.

Nureyev pulled away and stooped to mouth at one of Juno’s nipples through the thin material of his robe, pulling a sob from the detective. With a growl, he propped himself on an elbow above Juno and smiled hungrily at him.

“Let’s get this out of the way, hm?” Nureyev said quietly, pulling loose the first of three ribbons tying Juno’s robe shut.

Nureyev watched as he plucked each tie open, revealing more and more of Juno’s chest for his hungry gaze. He once again admired the way the vines and flowers of the harness stood out against his skin. If he could see Juno wear nothing but pastels for the rest of their natural lives, he would die a happy man.

As the last tie came undone, Nureyev slipped his hand under one side of the robe and slowly pushed it aside, his thumb lingering on Juno’s nipple and pulling a whine from the detective. When the robe fell away, Nureyev descended upon the nipple with his mouth, shifting his weight to uncover the other half of Juno’s chest. He took his time playing with Juno’s tits, exacting his revenge for the delicious torture his lover had subjected his own tits to, groaning when Juno began rutting desperately against his stomach.

“I wonder if I could make you come sucking on your tits alone,” Nureyev murmured curiously against the soft swell of Juno’s chest.

“Please, don’t,” Juno begged quietly. “Please, baby, wanna come on your cock, please.”

“Oh, my dear detective, you beg so nicely for me,” Nureyev sighed, lifting off of Juno to kneel between his thighs, watching him squirm below him. “You’ve been such a good girl, haven’t you?”

“Please,” Juno breathed again, eyes rolling back at the gentle praise.

Reaching down, Nureyev pulled Juno’s beautiful panties off, tossing them somewhere on the bed. Nureyev stares at Juno’s freed cock, hard and leaking against his lower abdomen, and the length of it was a temptation too strong to resist.

With a sigh, Nureyev settled between Juno’s thighs on his elbows and knees, and mouthed his way up his cock. Nureyev groaned loudly as he sealed his lips around the head, pressing his tongue flat against the slit to lap up a bead of precum. Juno squirmed at the barely-there touch, his hands clutching tight fistfuls of Nureyev’s hair, and the thief knew full well that Juno was shaking with the effort not to fuck his face again.

With a smirk, Nureyev swallowed Juno’s cock to the root, just as he did in the bathtub after Juno had eaten him out. At the memory of their romp in the bath and then again helping him with his cock, Nureyev moans around Juno. His eyes rolled back as he thought about the lady’s wickedly talented tongue on his dick and in his cunt, overwhelming and not enough all at once. Nureyev was still recovering from his orgasm on Juno’s tongue just a few short minutes prior.

He was shaking when he pulled up and off of Juno’s cock with a wet pop, only absently aware of Juno begging loudly to be fucked. For just a moment, he imagined returning the favour, fucking Juno open on his tongue so vividly, he couldn’t shake it.

Nureyev mouthed his way back down the underside of Juno’s cock, pressing wet, sucking kisses to the vein until he reached the base. Turning toward the thigh quivering next to his head, he bit the meat of it and relished the absolutely exultant cry Juno let out. The cry spurred him on, even as the metallic tang of blood hit his palate, and he happily marked up Juno’s inner-thighs with bites and sucking kisses. Steadily, he worked his way lower and closer to where he wanted his tongue. However, the angle quickly became impossible to continue his journey.

“N’reyev?” Juno asked in a strained voice, sounding confused as Nureyev hooked his thumbs under his knees and pushed them up and toward his chest. The new position exposed Juno’s perfect ass for him, and Nureyev drank his fill of it with his eyes.

The clean pucker of Juno’s hole was right there, and though he ached to press his tongue against and inside it, Nureyev diverted his attention to Juno’s taint, playing with the piercing there with his lips and tongue. The desperate shout that was ripped from Juno’s throat brought a smirk to Nureyev’s lips, and he looked up the length of Juno’s body to meet his gaze.

The detective’s eyes were wide and a bit wild, his nostrils flared as he seemed to understand where Nureyev was heading. It was obvious Juno wanted it, but he was chewing the inside of his cheek between moans, a tell-tale sign of his nerves.

“Juno,” Nureyev began, leaving the piercing in Juno’s taint alone and kissing one of his thighs while keeping their gazes locked. “Would you like it if I used my tongue to open you up for my cock?”

Juno’s expression went slack at the question and Nureyev could see the way his cock twitched. Then Juno became unsure, and worse he looked guilty, like he was caught stealing or breaking something. Once again, Nureyev felt homicidal about whoever trained his beautiful lady to feel ashamed to want.

“You don’t have to just because I did it, Nureyev,” he finally responded, chewing the inside of his cheek nervously.

“Juno, my love, my light, my absolute goddess. I would like to open you up with my tongue,” Nureyev groaned, shuddering as his cunt clenched tighter around the strap at the fantasy, sending a shock of pleasure through him. Then he focused on Juno’s face and asked, “But are you comfortable with that?”

“Well, yeah, Nureyev, but—” Juno began and was cut off with a cry when Nureyev bit his thigh.

“No ‘buts’,” Nureyev warned before asking, “Do you want it?”

Juno stared at him, his expression warring between uncertainty and a fondness so profound, Nureyev felt winded for a few seconds. Then, Juno nodded slowly, just the slightest twitch of his head, and Nureyev tsk’d at him teasingly.

“Use your words, my goddess. You know my rules,” Nureyev scolded, and he nearly grinned at the way Juno shuddered at the soft command. “Tell me exactly what you want me to do.”

“Your tongue,” Juno began weakly, his voice barely loud enough to be heard. “Can you use your tongue inside me? Please?”

“Excellent, my love,” Nureyev cooed, rewarding Juno with another biting kiss to his inner-thigh, his own arousal spiking at Juno’s whimper. It was true that he was pleased with the request, but he wanted to hear Juno be a bit more assertive, to be louder and more demanding. 

Nureyev decided he would push for just that.

“What a good girl you’ve been,” he sighed as he continued to kiss and bite Juno’s thighs and ass, pulling all manner of noises from the detective. Nureyev smirked against Juno’s taint when the sounds became decidedly impatient.

“Nureyev, c’mon!” Juno growled, the bed shaking a bit as he thumped his head back against the mattress with his frustration.

“What would you like, my love?” Nureyev asked cheekily, pressing his tongue against the piercing again and dragging a groan out of Juno.

“I already asked for it,” Juno whined, wringing the duvet on either side of him.

“Tell me what you want, Juno,” Nureyev ordered gently, moving low enough that his breath puffed across his hole.

“Just—fuck me with your tongue, goddamn it!” Juno sobbed, one hand grabbing a handful of Nureyev’s hair and pulling him where he wanted.

It was utterly perfect, and exactly what he had wanted from his perfect, beautiful Juno.

“There it is, such a good girl,” Nureyev purred, licking a hard stripe from Juno’s tailbone to his balls, pulling a sob from him.

Nureyev wrapped both arms around Juno’s waist and lifted him as he rose up onto his knees. The position had Juno nearly upside-down, with his ass only a few inches away from Nureyev’s face and allowing him zero leverage. The detective would have to either ask for whatever he wanted, or just take whatever Nureyev decided to give him.

Nureyev truly hoped Juno would do the former. He licked Juno’s hole again, several times in quick succession, and placed small kisses around it with a happy sigh as it twitched beneath his mouth.

“Nureyev, I swear if you don’t get your tongue in my ass soon, I’m—”

Nureyev didn’t give Juno a chance to finish his threat, his words cutting short with a strangled sound when Nureyev pressed his tongue inside easily.

The pace was relentless after that, Nureyev’s tongue alternating between thrusting inside and pulling out to lick at the twitching pucker. Juno was writhing already, sobbing every time the thief pushed his tongue as deep as he could, and whimpering when he would withdraw. The position Nureyev held him in made it difficult for Juno to reach him, so he switched between either grasping at Nureyev’s arms around his waist or the duvet.

“N’reyev, more,” Juno whined, wailing when Nureyev pulled out to bite the perfect globe of his asscheek. “Please, baby, more!”

How could Nureyev deny Juno anything when he begged so prettily?

Nureyev pushed forward to loom over Juno, curling him in on himself even more, and reached down with one hand to push two fingers against his bottom lip. The way the detective opened up for him and took his fingers into his mouth to suck them, desperate and wet, was almost too much for Nureyev’s patience.

With a bit of concentration, Nureyev moved his tongue and fingers in tandem, thrusting the digits in and out of Juno’s mouth as he did the same with his tongue at his entrance. He met Juno’s dazed eyes as he did, pressing particularly deep at both ends.

Pulling his fingers out of Juno’s mouth, Nureyev brought his hand back up to tease the wet fingertips up the underside of his cock on his way to his ass. The detective sobbed at the brief teasing touch to his taint before Nureyev pressed both fingers into his hole alongside his tongue. While Nureyev couldn’t get them particularly deep by any means, with a bit of effort he could hit Juno’s prostate and really get him screaming.

Which Nureyev did, with great enthusiasm.

It wasn’t long before Juno was sobbing, tears gathering in his eyes as he shuddered and tried to get some sort of leverage to get Nureyev’s fingers and tongue deeper. However, with Nureyev’s grip around both his waist and his thigh, Juno was especially helpless. When Nureyev absently pet Juno’s side where his one hand rested, all tension left Juno’s body and he relaxed completely against the bed and Nureyev.

“Perfect, my love,” Nureyev sighed, pulling away to kiss Juno’s thigh. “So perfect and beautiful.” 

And Juno was truly perfect, sprawled out on the bed as he was, hands resting on the bed at either side of his head where his fingers twitched, no longer wringing the fabric until it was about to rip. His cock was leaking precum, the slick smearing against Nureyev’s forearm where the head rested.

On the next press against his prostate, Juno all but wailed and a thick spurt of cum leaked out and ran down Nureyev’s arm. It was thick enough that it slid off and landed on Juno’s chin and lower lip, and Juno’s eyes rolled back with a shaky sound. With another wrung-out sound, Juno’s tongue flicked out to lick at the mess and when he couldn’t clean it all up, he used his own fingers to feed himself his own cum.

Nureyev couldn’t take it any longer.

As much as he wanted to push Juno to demand what he wanted, Nureyev needed to move past foreplay. The longer he sat with his cock inserted and activated, the more sensitive it became. If he kept torturing Juno in hopes he would take charge, Nureyev worried he’d come the moment he slid inside the detective.

Nureyev pulled away and withdrew his fingers, laying Juno back down on the bed. Juno looked up at him, clearly dazed and still figuring out that the position changed when Nureyev dropped his mouth to suck gently at the swollen head of Juno’s cock. He licked at the dripping slit, delighting in Juno’s strangled cry, before pulling back off to lick the mess of precum off of his arm.

“Babe,” Juno breathed, reaching for Nureyev with shaking hands, and he happily and instantly fell into the embrace.

Nureyev lapped up what was left of the cum on Juno’s face, but hesitated before pressing their mouths together. Juno, however, was having none of that and dragged Nureyev in for a filthy, searching kiss. He was pushy and demanding with his kiss, sucking desperately on his tongue as he rutted against whatever part of Nureyev’s body he could get his cock close enough to.

“Fuck me, N’reyev,” Juno whined against his mouth, breathless and blissed out, the words slurred a bit around the thief’s tongue.

The demand rocked through Nureyev, and he truly would not have denied Juno anything. He couldn’t take teasing his perfect, beautiful lady anymore. Growling into the kiss a bit, he held Juno tight and sat up, pulling Juno onto his lap. Nureyev couldn’t help but grin against Juno’s mouth when he immediately spread his legs wide to straddle him.

“You’re so perfect, my love,” he murmured and his smile softened to something more fond than hungry when Juno shuddered at the praise.

Nureyev slicked two fingers with lube and pressed them into Juno, gentle but insistent. Juno shivered against him, moaning into his mouth but was utterly relaxed in his arms. They kissed each other like that, slow and gentle, with Nureyev opening him up and Juno’s hands in his hair and pulling lightly. With a low groan, he pressed a third finger inside and Juno rocked down against the penetration, gasping.

“Please,” Juno begged, shuddering with each thrust of those fingers into him. “Fuck me, Nureyev.”

“You’re still tight, my love,” Nureyev replied quietly, pulling back to meet Juno’s gaze and spreading his fingers a bit to prove his point. Juno shouted, loud and exultant at the stretch, his eyes squeezing shut with an expression of pure pleasure.

“I know, I—I know just please, N’reyev,” Juno begged again, rocking his ass back onto Nureyev’s fingers with desperate abandon. “I want to feel it. Want to feel you.”

Nureyev let out a shivery sigh and nodded. He wanted that as well, to leave a mark on Juno that he would feel and remember, even if just for a few days. If it was to be the last time he would have Juno in such a way, he wanted it to be memorable.

So Nureyev pulled his fingers out of Juno and slipped his robe off completely, leaving them both in just their harnesses, sweating and panting and kissing each other sloppily. After a bit of maneuvering, Nureyev had Juno lying on his back up at the pillows again, and he was taken by the absolute vision Juno made laying there.

Juno smiled up at him after a few moments of just watching each other, and the expression was so open and genuine, it hurt Nureyev’s heart all over again.

Slicking up his cock, Nureyev groaned lowly at the stimulation and Juno instantly lifted and spread his legs when Nureyev crawled closer on his knees. He positioned himself at Juno’s entrance, and let out a shuddery moan.

“Ready, my love?” he asked breathlessly, if only to stall just a bit longer.

“Yeah,” Juno gasped, and Nureyev began to slowly sink into Juno’s pliant body, holding his gaze.

When he bottomed out, Nureyev had to take a moment to collect himself while Juno sobbed breathlessly. Nureyev was overwhelmed by the tight heat of Juno’s body, by the way his hole clenched around him every time Juno breathed. The way it felt like he was being pulled in a million directions all at once.

Juno whimpered, his breathing turning frantic and Nureyev pulled back with some concern. He was met with an expression full of so much heat, he was worried he might literally melt under the weight of it.

“Move!” Juno demanded, and he outright sobbed when Nureyev immediately obliged.

Nureyev started slow, the rhythm sweet and gentle, and he watched as tears filled Juno’s eyes. The detective stared up at him, his face a mask of bliss and need, seeming perfectly content with the gentle pace.

“I love you,” Nureyev moaned, grabbing the backs of Juno’s thighs and bending his legs closer to his chest. The slight change in angle pulled a shout from Juno, and as his tears overflowed, Nureyev couldn’t believe someone so beautiful was his. “Juno, I love you.”

Juno sobbed, nodding frantically. “I love you,” he replied, quiet and secret and utterly perfect. “I love you, Nureyev.”

Nureyev pressed into him harder at that and they both threw their heads back. With some effort, Juno managed to get his elbows under himself to get some leverage. Juno met the thrusts against him, panting into the air as the pace grew faster and harder.

Juno hissed as the back of his head and shoulders hit the cool window, and Nureyev crawled forward enough that Juno could lean back against the window. Wrapping his legs around Nureyev’s waist, Juno sobbed as he was fucked against the glass with brutal intensity.

Nureyev held Juno’s hips with bruising strength, his mouth close to Juno’s but not actually kissing him, their panting breaths mingling between them. Juno was an absolute vision as he always was, his mouth open with wailing cries, eyes half-lidded and his good eye visibly dazed, tears all but streaming down his cheeks.

Then, beyond him over his shoulder, Nureyev could see Hyperion City. His beautiful Juno was in his arms, in his heart, and breathlessly opening his own with every whimpered “I love you” and “I need you.” Beyond that room, beyond their little cocoon of gauzy fabrics, sheets, and twinkling lights, was his Juno’s city; the one with his brother and his best friends, and all of the people he cared about and wanted to save.

Tears sprung to Nureyev’s eyes and when Juno’s expression became a bit worried, Nureyev distracted him with a kiss, swallowing his moans, as the angle had his cock battering Juno’s prostate on every thrust.

“I love you, Juno, I love you so much. I-I—” Nureyev tried to think of something else to say, something poetic and pretty, but that was all he had left in his head.

All he had left was how much he loved the lady in his arms, how much he needed him, and how much it hurt that he had to leave without him, how he felt like he was losing a limb—that he already _had_ lost a limb and he could hardly breathe for it.

Juno shivered, nodding as if Nureyev had said all of that out loud, and perhaps he did. It hardly mattered; it wasn’t as if those were thoughts he wouldn’t want Juno to know.

“I’m close,” Juno groaned, the words punched out of him and Nureyev moaned. His own release was close, but by the sound of Juno’s breathing, not close enough to finish together.

Nureyev wrapped his long fingers around Juno’s cock and pumped him in time with his thrusts, and Juno arched off the window with a throaty sound. His entire body shook as he clenched down around him, and Nureyev couldn’t help the sound he made.

Juno sucked in a sharp breath, his eyes rolling back in his head just before his cock pulsed in Nureyev’s hand. With a high-pitched near-scream, Juno came, shooting his load across his chest and abdomen. Nureyev groaned at how tight and hot Juno was during his release and stilled his thrusts, allowing his lover a moment to catch his breath.

Juno managed to bring himself around fairly quickly and sucked in a deep breath. “Did you come?” he asked, voice shaking and dazed.

Nureyev could only shake his head, his entire body shivering with his need to finish.

Juno grunted and wrapped his legs tighter around Nureyev. “Keep going,” he demanded and Nureyev moaned, even as his eyes widened.

“Juno, you’ve—”

“You’re not getting it,” Juno interrupted and unraveled his legs from around Nureyev’s waist and pushed him back, hissing when Nureyev’s cock slipped out of him. Getting turned around, Juno leaned his chest and cheek against the glass, reaching back with both hands to pull his cheeks apart. Nureyev stared at him, at his ass and thighs, all of the bruises, hickeys, and bite marks decorating his skin only making him want more.

“C’mon, baby,” Juno pleaded, his breath fogging up the glass he was leaned against. “I wanna feel you for days. Take what you need, I’ll tap out if it’s too much.”

Nureyev groaned and, after adding more lube to his cock, he twisted his fists into the straps of Juno’s harness and thrust back into him without pause or ceremony. The pace and intensity did not let up after that, and Juno’s hands slapped against the glass to support himself as he wailed through the overstimulation.

It was only a few moments before Nureyev’s orgasm pulled tight in his gut. Moving his hands upward, he wrapped them around the front of Juno’s shoulders and pulled him up off of the glass and onto his cock. Juno choked, tears welling up and spilling over, but his face was so blissed out Nureyev didn’t stop. He pressed his lips to Juno’s throat, and then his shoulder, his mouth hanging open and panting against Juno’s skin as he whined.

“Oh fuck, Nureyev,” Juno sobbed, his voice pained but need and desperate. Curiously, Nureyev reached down and could feel that Juno was still half-hard, his cock still spurting at each thrust into him. With a groan, Nureyev wrapped his hand around the softening cock and stroked it in sloppy tandem with his thrusts.

Juno screamed, head thrown back as he came again within seconds of being touched, and that coil in Nureyev’s gut snapped then he was coming, too. He bit down on the meat of Juno’s shoulder to muffle his own shout while he thrust almost savagely against Juno’s ass.

Finally, Nureyev stilled and sighed, holding onto Juno and flopping them onto their sides on the bed. Juno made a weak sound as Nureyev carefully pulled out, whimpering while Nureyev hummed soothingly. With a shudder and a sigh, Juno immediately rolled over and threw a leg over Nureyev’s hip, cuddling in close.

Nureyev sighed, capturing Juno’s lips in a kiss as he slipped his hand down Juno’s back and pressed two fingers into his loose, wet hole. Juno made a soft sound at the penetration, not distressed by any means but also not one of enjoyment either. When Nureyev withdrew his fingers, Juno flinched a bit but moaned on the next exhale.

* * *

next

Nureyev worked to catch his breath, his arm slung around Juno’s waist so he could run his hand up and down his back soothingly. Occasionally, he would sweep his palm further to massage the muscled thigh thrown over his hip.

“Are you okay, love?” Nureyev asked around a yawn when Juno stretched with a bit of a pained sound.

“Yeah, I’m golden,” Juno said softly with a dreamy sigh, nuzzling his forehead against Nureyev’s chest before meeting his gaze with a blissed-out smile. “I’m perfect.”

“I’m glad to hear it, my love,” Nureyev hummed, stealing a chaste kiss from Juno before saying, “We should wash up before bed, though.”

Juno groaned and snuggled in closer, shaking his head with a little hmph. “Don’wanna,” he mumbled petulantly.

Nureyev laughed, just as disinterested in the prospect of getting up, but there were some general hygiene items they needed to take care of. “Come along, love, up we get,” Nureyev said, sitting up and giving Juno’s ass a sharp slap.

“Babe, if you want me out of this bed, you better knock that off,” Juno teased with a sexy sprawl, but the effect was lost when he yawned hugely.

“No offense, dear, but I don’t think either of us have the stamina to make good on any threats like that,” Nureyev laughed, and eventually dragged Juno out of the bed and into the ensuite.

The shower stall was ridiculous in its size, and set in the bathroom so one of it’s walls was just windows. The windows in the shower weren’t quite floor to ceiling, and had a tiled ledge that was about half a foot tall. There was also a safety bar that travelled along the window. The spray of the shower came from a fixture right above them, the water coming down like a perfect, warm rain. It reminded Nureyev of a rain storm he had found himself caught in the one time he had gone to earth, and Juno hummed thoughtfully when he told him as much.

Neither of them was particularly keen on turning on the lights, so they showered by the lights of the city coming through the window. Juno was looking down at Hyperion City, his city, with his hands resting on the safety bar while Nureyev lathered up a plush washcloth and began wiping his body down.

Standing flush behind Juno, Nureyev wrapped an arm around his shoulder and chest, holding him tenderly as he washed his stomach and lower. With a contented hum, he pressed a kiss to the hinge of Juno’s jaw and frowned when the detective sighed a touch too wistful for Nureyev’s comfort.

“What’s on your mind, my love?” he asked before mouthing at Juno’s throat.

“What if you could stay?” Juno asked, his tone flat but curious.

Nureyev hesitated a moment before asking, “Do you want me to answer that?”

“Yeah,” he replied after a thoughtful hum. “The honest one.”

“That would be the only one I would give you, dear detective. You’re too important and too smart for any of the others,” Nureyev sighed, and he couldn’t help the teasingly bitter tone out of his voice.

“Yeah, yeah,” Juno snorted, and Nureyev could hear the eye-roll. “You’re deflecting.”

“We would be happy for a bit, I think— No, I know we would be happy, at first that is. Then I would get bored,” he confessed in a sigh against Juno’s ear, and when he felt Juno tense in his arms, he added quickly, “Not of you, my love. Never of you. But I would go mad sitting still. Doing busywork.”

Juno chuckled, as if laughing at some private joke, but the humour didn’t quite reach it.

“Like a caged fox. Or something,” Juno supplied, and leaned his forehead against the glass.

“Exactly,” Nureyev replied quietly, a sad smile of his own twisting his mouth. “And if you could come with me?”

Though he couldn’t see Juno’s face completely, Nureyev could tell there were tears in his eyes with the way he bit his lower lip.

“I… I would be miserable without Benten and Rita,” he admitted, his voice watery. He lifted his hand to wipe a tear that fell away and Nureyev’s heart broke. “I don’t think I’d be happy without them at all, even in the beginning. I’m sorry—”

Nureyev turned Juno around and kissed him soundly, sighing when Juno opened for him readily. There was no way to measure who would hurt the most when it came time for Nureyev to leave, the one who could stay and would hate it, or the one who could leave but would suffer. But they didn’t have to think about that tonight. 

Nureyev just wished they didn’t have to think about it at all.

“Don’t apologize, Juno,” Nureyev whispered when he pulled back to finish washing them up. “I understand.”

A short time later, they slipped back into the bed, still damp and naked from their shower. Nureyev propped himself over Juno, kissing him breathless with lazy and slow motions. With a contented noise, Juno kissed his way to the line of Nureyev’s jaw, lips pausing over the raised line of the new scar there. Nureyev shivered a bit when Juno pressed his fingers against his chest, gently feeling the jagged lines before sliding down to press his whole palm to the burn on his abdomen.

When he didn’t move his hand any further, Nureyev pulled back to look at Juno’s face.

Juno was thoughtful, looking down at the lines of his scars, stroking the burn gently with a furrowed brow. Nureyev reached up to brush his thumb across Juno’s cheekbone, below his blinded eye. The detective almost flinched away as if the touch burned before he settled and leaned into the touch.

“What are you thinking about, love?” Nureyev asked, dropping a soft kiss just below his eye.

Juno shivered under the gentle affection with a little sigh. “Are you going to get your scars reduced?” Juno asked after a bit, scrunching his face up adorably when Nureyev moved his lips to the scar on the bridge of his nose.

“Why would I?” Nureyev asked, pulling back and meeting Juno’s gaze.

The detective shrugged, glancing away and chewing his cheek. “Your whole anonymity thing?” Juno offered in a quiet mumble. There was obviously more to that thought, but Nureyev wouldn’t pry.

“Going under for surgery is risky, so I typically avoid doing so outside of emergencies,” Nureyev replied with a small smile. “I’ll simply cover them as needed if I must.”

Juno hummed at that, nodding and moved his gaze away to look at the jagged lines that criss-crossed his throat.

“Besides,” Nureyev continued, lowering himself to lay his full weight against Juno, his legs straddling his thick thighs. He gave Juno’s eye another soft kiss, and said, “I find scars to be quite… sexy.”

“Of course, you do,” Juno said with a snort.

“I do,” Nureyev replied seriously, figuring Juno didn’t have to know how much he hated the scars at the moment, and coaxed Juno into a searching kiss.

Juno didn’t respond as readily as he had expected, so Nureyev pulled back and met his eyes again. The detective was still pensive and even a bit sceptical, which was far too serious for Nureyev’s liking.

“Juno, darling,” he prompted gently. “What’s wrong? Was it something I said?”

“No, you didn’t say anything wrong, just thinking,” Juno said almost flippantly, but he seemed to realize he was dismissing and deflecting. With a sigh he said, “I don’t… believe you when you say the scars don’t bother you, but that’s not— You didn’t— I get it, if you didn’t like them. They’re ugly—”

“They’re not ugly,” Nureyev interrupted firmly, and Juno glared a bit up at him. “If we’re to have these sorts of talks, dear, we should keep this… negative self-talk to a minimum.”

Juno snorted and rolled his eyes. “Fine,” Juno conceded and took a deep breath. “My ex wanted me to get mine fixed, or reduced, or whatever. He was really pushy about it, and wanted me to get a fake eye, too. Even just a basic glass one. Nothing fancy.”

“But you didn’t,” Nureyev encouraged.

“Well, obviously. I didn’t want to spend Pereyra’s hush money, and I just… didn’t want another surgery,” Juno said quietly. “I didn’t really get that it was such a big deal for him until he— until I ended things. Or, when he left.”

“Do you know why it was such a big issue with him?” Nureyev asked, even as he planned the very painful way he would dispatch the bastard. When Juno raised his eyebrow at him sceptically, it hit him instantly.

Juno had looked like Benten, until he lost his eye.

“It’s the past, and it should stay there,” Juno replied eventually, and hummed when Nureyev drew him into a gentle press of lips.

“I will be honest with you, Juno; I hate my scars, as they are right now,” Nureyev confessed when he pulled away, smiling weakly at Juno’s curious expression. “Perhaps once they’re less fresh, I will find them more tolerable, but I was considering covering them up before meeting with you tonight.”

“Why didn’t you?” Juno asked.

“Because of you, honestly,” Nureyev said, smiling openly at Juno. “I thought of you, and how beautiful I believe you to be, and your scars are part of that.”

“Jeez, Nureyev,” Juno huffed, glancing away bashfully and chewing the inside of his cheek. “You’re laying it on pretty thick.”

“All of it is the truth, my love,” Nureyev sighed with a grin. “I just can’t believe no one else had figured it out as well.”

“Well,” Juno started with a shrug, “I got you out of it, didn’t I?”

“I was avoiding celebrating decades of people being incredibly stupid and cruel to you, dear,” he chastised lightly, pulling a laugh from Juno.

“Go ahead and celebrate. I mean, I am,” Juno said, accepting another kiss with a quiet moan.

“Are you?” Nureyev asked teasingly, their lips still pressed tightly together.

“Little bit,” Juno sighed and Nureyev laughed, deepening the kiss.

Nureyev kept it up until Juno began faltering in returning the kisses, his eyes fluttering shut. The detective would shake himself awake every time his mouth fell slack under Nureyev’s, returning the kisses with renewed fervor and enthusiasm, hands finding their way into his hair to ground himself.

Eventually though, when Juno drifted off, Nureyev pulled away and let him sleep.

Nureyev laid next to Juno for a while, watching the love of his life sleep peacefully, partially lit up by the city beyond the windows. The next day, he knew he would have to leave, but he thanked every entity from every planet orbiting every star that must have answered whatever secret prayer he had whispered.

Juno Steel was such a gift he didn’t deserve, it had to have been divine intervention.

With a sigh and one last chaste kiss to Juno’s cheek, Nureyev lowered his head to his own pillow and quickly drifted off to sleep as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lmao you bet your ass I have reference collages I made while I procrastinated writing the outline for this chapter:
> 
>   * Nureyev's [outfit when he picked Juno up](https://64.media.tumblr.com/eab64ca56372818a455df45b1dcd3df5/94897bd762c37b3d-33/s400x600/9174acf72f4c621d1de3979ac71c8c8825756fc0.png)
>   * Juno's [outfit when he was picked up](https://64.media.tumblr.com/c97aab30d3077cd81c42a51e9b95a3bf/94897bd762c37b3d-24/s400x600/8757e0be220ff70a77bff4c49b923367b51e382f.png) plus his [little number underneath it](https://64.media.tumblr.com/8673cbb70fcbd06aa988044a908cd887/94897bd762c37b3d-3a/s400x600/bcce15a32eb110b09ef9b869165c55f62d3b0d3d.png)
>   * The [hotel room references](https://64.media.tumblr.com/95999bcfef6bddedd7fa63f17bba2d93/94897bd762c37b3d-99/s1280x1920/50680ddac9c6278e117610df6559e6fce873582f.png)
>   * What they [changed into later](https://64.media.tumblr.com/611287948a04ee52ecfc4b930fcb504a/94897bd762c37b3d-45/s640x960/c43724b5513dae301a46524680661ce07b7e91a8.png) (minus the absolutely ridiculous beads on Juno's lmao)
> 



	7. fall back in love eventually [E]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A parting, a problem, and an uprooting...  
>  **[check out the new tags!! Please read the notes for additional warnings!!]**  
>  **[smut is, as always, completely skippable!!]**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Some Important Notes:**
> 
>   * The smut is **completely skippable**! **There is nothing in the smutty parts that is plot heavy** , so you aren't "missing" anything that isn't covered in the PG-13 parts.
>   * Nureyev is a **gender euphoric trans man** , as in **he does not experience any dysphoria** , who has **not had top-surgery** and does **not wear a binder**. I use a mix of **masculine and feminine** terminology for his genitalia, as I do for my own body as a transmasc individual. I use the following words for his body: tit(s), cunt, and dick. The strap is referred to as his cock. If this makes you uncomfortable, that is totally understandable, and I recommend skipping the smut.
>   * **ADDITIONAL NOTE:** Nureyev has had one medical procedure, and that was to make it so he _cannot_ get pregnant. It is discussed _briefly_ **during the smut** whether a condom should be used while having vaginal sex, and the risk for an unplanned pregnancy is cleared between Juno and Nureyev. It is brief, it is vague, and **nothing will result in an unplanned pregnancy**.
> 

> 
> **PLEASE HEED THE FOLLOWING NEW TAGS FOR THIS CHAPTER:**
> 
>   * Morning Sex
>   * Shower Sex
>   * Vaginal Sex
>   * Squirting
>   * Phone Sex
>   * Dirty Talk
>   * New Piercings
>   * Vers Nureyev Rights
>   * Pregnancy Mention (Vague/Brief)
> 

> 
> **SEE ALSO:**
> 
>   * sometimes Juno's a top and that's fine
>   * more blatant disregard for refractory periods of almost-40yos
>   * blatant disregard for the hygiene needs in the name of Sexy Morning Sex
> 

> 
> And for the sinners who like to skip to the smut on rereads, I love you, I see you, and I respect you:
> 
>   * Skip to Morning Sex
>   * Skip to Comms Sex
> 

> 
>   
>  **For optimal impact, please listen to _Saturn_ by Sleeping At Last while you read the section directly following the first smut scene. That was the song that was playing while I wrote it and hurted my own feelings, so you should feel it too me thinks.**   
> 

* * *

_**[NUREYEV]** _

Nureyev woke up to the sensation of lips brushing chastely over his throat then travelling down to his collarbone and across his shoulder. The touches were so gentle and ticklish that he couldn’t help his shiver and sleepy little giggle.

The lips paused against his shoulder at the sound, then spread into a grin. With a cheeky _hmph_ , Nureyev rolled away from the light touches and onto his side.

Juno laughed a bit before slotting himself flush against Nureyev’s back and wrapping an arm around him to rest his hand on his chest. Behind him, he could feel Juno prop himself up on his other elbow before pressing insistent kisses against the back of Nureyev’s shoulders, up the side of his neck, and all over the parts of Nureyev’s face that he could reach. Nureyev continued to laugh, burying his face into his pillow with token protests. Nureyev rolled over with a shout of mock-outrage when Juno bit his shoulder—as in, a proper bite, not a sexy bite—and then blew a raspberry against the spot. 

“ _You_ —” Nureyev started accusingly, only to be cut off by a kiss, as chaste as it was insistent. For a few moments, they were both too busy laughing to kiss each other properly, until Nureyev sighed and relaxed into it.

Juno pulled back after a bit, smiling fondly down at Nureyev, and softly said, “You.”

Nureyev thought his chest might explode and he reached up to pull Juno back down for a properly searching kiss, opening his mouth to meet Juno’s halfway. Juno pulled back, and Nureyev opened his eyes—not even aware he had closed them—and squinted up at him.

“Good morning, my love,” Nureyev greeted him, lifting a hand to gently hold the back of Juno’s head and pull him down for another sweet kiss.

“G’morning,” Juno replied, mumbling against Nureyev’s mouth as he shifted so he was a bit more on top of him. The movement had Juno straddling his thigh, and Nureyev pulled back with a bark of laughter.

“Oh, and good morning,” he added with a pointed look down where Juno’s hips were pressed against his leg. Juno only pouted and slipped his hand between Nureyev’s legs with a raised eyebrow.

“Good morning, yourself,” Juno sassed back when Nureyev’s breath hitched.

It was early, and he was sore, and they really should have been getting started with their day; Nureyev had a flight to catch that afternoon.

“We should be responsible,” Nureyev murmured, already a bit breathless.

“Yeah?” Juno asked, smirking.

“Yeah,” Nureyev sighed, making a happy, muffled sound into Juno’s mouth as it crashed against his.

_** [click to skip smut] ** _

* * *

“We can’t use the strap this morning,” Nureyev said sadly, pulling away from the kiss with a heavy sigh of disappointment at the limitations of technology. The device required a certain amount of “cool-down” time after deactivating it. To reactivate it again too quickly ran the risk of causing irreparable damage not only to the device, but the entire network of implants.

Juno just snorted a laugh, looking down at Nureyev with an amused grin. “I don’t think my ass could take it, anyway,” he admitted, and Nureyev felt more than a little bit of pride in that. Then Juno said, “I’m sure we can think of something else. We’re creative.”

Nureyev chuckled, accepting the kiss Juno had for him, moaning when Juno pressed his tongue into his mouth and both hands found his tits. The nipples were a bit sore from their rough treatment the night before, but that just made the feather-light touches all the more delicious. Nureyev sighed and let his legs fall further open and Juno slid between them fully, his half-hard cock slotting against his own, dragging a moan out of both of them.

With a low sound, Juno rocked against him, his mouth going slack against Nureyev’s.

Nureyev couldn’t breathe with how much he wanted Juno inside him; something he rarely wanted with past lovers, and something he _never_ allowed with marks. The idea of Juno having him in such a way was absolutely intoxicating, and he splayed his knees even wider to accommodate his lady in unspoken askance.

“We certainly are creative,” he breathed, grinding up beneath Juno as he ran his hands down his back to grab his ass firmly.

Juno made another chest-deep sound and pressed in for a hard kiss, rutting against Nureyev’s dick with abandon. Then Juno pulled back and lifted his hips up so that he could slide a hand down between Nureyev’s thighs to slot two of his fingers inside him.

“Tell me what you want?” Juno asked, his voice already strained, but uncertainty was bleeding through. “Don't wanna guess...”

“Would you like to fuck me?” Nureyev asked, and he prayed that Juno would say yes. He wanted Juno to kneel above him and push that cock into his cunt with the same ferocity he’d fucked his face with.

“ _Yes_ ,” Juno moaned, curling his fingertips against Nureyev’s g-spot with almost vicious accuracy. “How do you want it?”

Nureyev shivered and pushed Juno back, complaining a bit when the detective’s fingers slipped out of his cunt before he rolled over onto his stomach. He shoved a couple pillows under his hips and dropped to his elbows, the position showing off every single implant that adorned his pussy, dick and ass. Arching his back, Nureyev angled himself enticingly with a bit of a wiggle.

Juno was on him in an instant, kissing up his back, grabbing his hips and hooking his fingers around the front. Juno’s fingertips danced along the implants that followed the V of his pelvis as he ground his cock against Nureyev, sighing against his back where his mouth had stopped. With a shiver, Nureyev knew it was the still-pink scar of his stab wound that Juno was fixated on so strongly.

When Juno pulled back and pressed two fingers inside him, Nureyev reached back to grab his wrist.

“Just fuck me, Juno,” he said softly, desperately. He just needed the detective, and he wanted to feel it

“’Kay. You bring any condoms?” Juno whispered, curling his fingers that were still inside Nureyev, pulling a shaky sound from him.

“Not necessary for avoiding anything unplanned,” Nureyev groaned again at the next massaging touch against his g-spot. “Had a procedure done— _ah_ , to make sure of that.”

Juno let out a shaky breath. “Babe, I know I asked how you wanted it but,” Juno started and Nureyev quickly looked over his shoulder with some concern. The detective wore that look again, like he was doing something wrong just by wanting something. He took a deep breath and continued, “Can you look at me? While I… while I make— while I fuck you?”

“Oh, my love,” Nureyev murmured, nodding frantically and he rolled over when Juno withdrew his fingers. With a breathless moan, Nureyev hooked his long legs around the detective to reel him in and said, “You can have me however you want.”

“Even boring old missionary sex?” Juno chuckled nervously, running his fingers up and down through the slick that glistened between Nureyev’s thighs.

“Nothing is ever boring with you, goddess,” Nureyev replied without missing a beat and Juno groaned. “Least of all making love.”

Their gazes met, and Nureyev smiled as he reached down between them to help position Juno’s cock against his cunt. With a sigh, Juno pushed inside, pulling guttural sounds from both of them when he bottomed out. Nureyev looked up at Juno as he sat on his knees between his legs, pressed flush against him and filling him so perfectly.

Nureyev wasn’t sure he’d ever seen anything so beautiful as Juno, dark skin already dappled with sweat, the piercings in his nipples and in his navel catching the light coming in through the window. It was intense, being so full yet with so little stimulation, to have Juno so warm and soft between his own thin thighs. He wanted to beg Juno to move but he also never wanted it to end.

When Juno pulled back, the drag of his cock against the implants along Nureyev's labia was absolutely exquisite, and his eyes rolled back. On Juno’s strong push back inside, Nureyev gasped, a sob bursting out of him when Juno’s hands held onto his hips and idly thumbed the piercings there. 

At his reaction, Juno began moving his thumb along the implants more deliberately as he fucked him deeper and harder. He flicked and tweaked the implants, much like he had his nipples the night before, and the shocks of pleasure had his cunt clenching around Juno. Nureyev would have normally been embarrassed by how far gone he already was, how lost he was in his pleasure, but it had to be understandable with Juno Steel making love to him so perfectly. 

With a grunt, Juno dropped onto his elbows, slipping his hands underneath Nureyev to hook them around the tops of his shoulders. Sucking one of Nureyev’s tits into his mouth, Juno dragged his teeth against his nipple and sped up, using his grip on Nureyev's shoulders as leverage. Nureyev was in heaven with the new angle and new pace, feeling warm, safe, and full, feeling utterly cared for and tended to. 

Nureyev’s legs squeezed desperately around Juno’s ribs and he wrapped his arms around his shoulders, his head thrown back with his sighs and whimpers of need. 

With a low growl, Juno slid one hand down Nureyev’s front, slipping between them to start jerking him off. He tugged and rolled the piercing in his dick, playing with him until he threw his head back and arched off the bed with a helpless cry. 

They were moving against each other, each chasing their own releases, Juno fucking him even harder, his mouth nearly vicious against his chest, and his hand relentless at his dick. Nureyev was overwhelmed—by the pleasure, the love, the way Juno was sobbing against the bruised, spit-slicked skin of his chest.

Nureyev had no warning before his orgasm was upon him; he had opened his mouth to tell Juno he was close, and then he was choking, the coil in his gut snapping so suddenly it was almost painful. All attempts to warn Juno died on his lips as the sensation of his cunt spasming around something hard, and thick, and warm erased all intelligent thought from his mind. Absently, he was aware that he was shouting, his back arching sharply and Juno was sitting up and off of him.

When he came back to himself a bit, his breath still laboured and ending in little whines and groans, Juno had hooked his thumbs under Nureyev’s knees and was pushing his legs up and out. Nureyev eventually found himself with Juno looming over him, his legs held wide open and his knees against the mattress. Juno’s eyes were wide as he stared down at him, and Nureyev sobbed with overstimulation.

“You’re so fucking flexible,” Juno groaned, almost as if he was personally offended by it. Before Nureyev could say anything, Juno was fucking him hard and fast, his thrusts selfish in their single-mindedness. With his legs held the way they were, Nureyev’s arms were more or less pinned to the bed, leaving him to just take it from Juno. 

And there was nowhere else in the galaxy Nureyev would rather be than pinned beneath Juno Steel, being used to get off and hearing him sob “ _fuck_ , baby,” and “I love you, N’reyev,” above him. It was obvious Juno was close, and Nureyev groaned.

“Close, my love?” Nureyev asked desperately, his thighs burning deliciously with the stretch.

“S-so close,” Juno confirmed, swallowing thickly as if to refocus his thoughts, brow furrowed with concentration.

“Juno, my love,” Nureyev sighed. “Let me see you come.”

Juno didn’t argue with him, just nodded and let his expression go slack as he began to fuck Nureyev with abandon. The slaps of his hips against Nureyev’s skin with his perfectly brutal pace, the obscene sounds of Juno’s cock moving in his tight, wet cunt, were so loud he almost missed the way Juno’s breath hitched, and the rhythm faltered just slightly.

And then Juno was falling apart, pumping his cock in and out of Nureyev until he buried himself to the hilt inside him and sobbed. Nureyev almost cried out as Juno’s cock pulsed inside him, the burst of wet warmth inside him making him clench again.

As Juno let go of his legs, Nureyev only moved them to wrap around his waist tightly, holding him in place when he tried to pull out.

“N’reyev?” Juno questioned above him when Nureyev absolutely refused to relinquish any control.

“Please just, stay there for a bit?” Nureyev requested, shivering at each slight shift of Juno’s cock as it pulsed with the aftershocks of his release and softened.

Juno chuckled and bent to kiss his bruised and bitten chest before genuinely asking, “Do you like feeling a cock go soft inside you?”

“Yes,” Nureyev sighed happily. “Don’t get to feel it very often, but I like it quite a lot. Is that weird?”

“No,” Juno replied with a tired laugh, falling forward onto Nureyev’s chest and sighing. “I guess it’s not.”

A few minutes later, after they finished catching their breath, Juno sighed and pressed a sloppy, open-mouthed kiss against Nureyev’s sternum. “Should we order breakfast?” he asked, shivering when his soft cock slipped out of Nureyev.

“I need to wash up first,” he replied with a grimace at how wet he felt between his legs. “I can’t eat like this.

He was about to roll over onto his hands and knees to crawl off the bed when he caught Juno’s expression. Juno looked like he was about to apologize, or like he wanted to. Worse than that, he looked guilty.

“Did—” he started, before cutting himself off and restarting, and said, “I shouldn’t’ve assumed—”

“Juno, what are you worried about?” Nureyev asked.

“I didn’t pull out, and I should’ve asked first,” Juno replied, biting the inside of his cheek.

“Oh, Juno, I loved it,” Nureyev said, pulling Juno into a soft kiss. “I also love being clean while I eat.”

Chuckling as he pulled back to sit above Nureyev, Juno asked, “Mind if I join you?”

Nureyev grinned up at Juno. “I wouldn’t have it any other way, my love,” he said gently, and he meant so much more than just the shower.

Those thoughts were far too intense to consider while cum leaked out of his cunt, however.

In the bathroom, Nureyev stood outside the shower stall while he waited for the water to heat up. Juno was puttering around behind him picking their clothes up off the floor and complaining about how messy they’d been. His own thoughts were on their morning together, and their combined mess between his legs, and he found himself distracted by the slow, sticky trickle of it down one of his inner-thighs. Shivering a bit, he spread his legs just slightly with a sigh.

Nureyev jumped when Juno pressed up behind him, sliding two of his fingers up his messy thigh and catching the next glob of cum. Then Juno’s fingers were pressing inside again, pushing the cum back inside and starting a gentle pace. If he had thought the sounds of Juno fingering him were obscene in how wet they were before, he actually blushed hotly at the squelch of his cunt’s slick and Juno’s cum on every press inward.

With a shaky breath, Nureyev rocked back onto Juno’s fingers, his head swimming with arousal. His dick was hard again, ready and desperate to be played with already, and Nureyev struggled to breathe.

How could he feel so good and not be dead and in some astral paradise plane?

“You’re so wet,” Juno groaned against Nureyev’s shoulder blade, and he added almost dreamily, “And some of it’s mine…”

Nureyev allowed himself to be pushed forward into the shower stall, catching himself against the window with his hands. The detective’s fingers returned, rough and assertive in and out of him, dragging all manner of sounds from Nureyev’s throat. Shuddering, Nureyev leaned against the window with his chest and cheek so he could angle his hips back and offer Juno easier access to his cunt.

“Oh, _Juno_ ,” Nureyev cried out when those blessed fingers dragged against his g-spot.

At that, the detective pulled his fingers out, ignoring Nureyev’s complaints, and turned him around roughly. Nureyev was still registering the change in position, blinking at the fuzzy surroundings when Juno dropped to his knees, and he keened when that wicked mouth wrapped around his dick again.

It was all teeth and relentless sucking, driving Nureyev higher and higher and higher until he was sobbing into the steamy air of the shower stall. His orgasm rocketed through him, arching his back so sharply his head thumped against the glass and his hands grabbed the back of Juno’s head to hold him against his rutting hips.

Juno did not stop there, however.

Hooking one hand behind Nureyev’s knee, he encouraged him to lift his leg onto his shoulder. Juno pulled off of his dick with a breathless, wet sound, groaning as he lifted up tall on his knees. The movement knocked Nureyev off-balance and he scrambled for purchase on the safety bar, barely catching himself before Juno grabbed his hips to haul him up and forward.

The sound Juno made as he pressed his tongue into his cunt would live in Nureyev’s mind forever. He was overwhelmed by the way Juno whined as if it was his own pleasure and Nureyev wanted so badly to touch Juno, to pet him and slip his fingers down between them to feel where his open, panting mouth moved against his dick. 

Nureyev shuddered when Juno pushed his fingers back into his cunt alongside his tongue, curling them against his g-spot with dangerous accuracy. Juno pulled away to gasp for breath as Nureyev all but sobbed at the relentless massaging against his g-spot, and after a few moments, he returned to sucking Nureyev’s dick. Rolling his piercings over it, he worked it harder and harder, pausing to suck it and toy with the implant at its base with every few thrusts of his fingers.

Nureyev was blindsided by his orgasm, his gut clenching with the power of it as a shattered scream fell from his lips. Even as he shook apart under Juno’s mouth and fingers, he felt something building deeper and it made him nearly frantic. Something in his sounds must have reflected some of his panic because Juno backed off with his fingers at least.

Before long, Nureyev had both legs on Juno’s shoulders, his thighs quivering around his ears and his grip on the safety bar white-knuckled as he panted heavily through the build of yet another orgasm. Juno was fucking him with three fingers, every now and then pulling them out to lap at his cunt, licking deeply before replacing his fingers.

With a ragged scream, Nureyev came for a third time, wringing the bar in his hands and sobbing at the way his gut clenched and spasmed. His dick was sore, and his cunt was loose and dripping, the continued stimulation on the knife’s edge of good.

When Juno still did not stop, Nureyev actually whimpered. He was certain coming again would destroy him, tear him apart at a subatomic level and scatter him amongst the stars.

“Juno, please,” Nureyev begged, his voice weak and shaking as he tipped his head back against the window. “Juno, I don’t—I can’t—”

Groaning, Juno pulled away and asked huskily, “Think you can give me just one more, baby?”

Nureyev dropped his head forward to look down at his perfect lady, aiming to give him a piece of his mind but freezing at the sight below him. Juno—perfect and soft, the dark skin of his face smeared with Nureyev’s slick and lips swollen—kneeling there between his thighs and looking up at him with so much love and desire and mischief. 

“You’re almost all clean down here,” Juno added, pressing an absurdly chaste kiss to Nureyev’s dick while maintaining eye-contact.

With a sob, Nureyev nodded and released a low moan when Juno dove back in tongue-first.

His final orgasm washed over him in jolts, his whole body exhausted and sensitive. At first, he thought he might survive it, but then Juno rubbed perfect little circles into his g-spot and something snapped. Coming hard with a wrecked shout, his cunt clenched around Juno’s fingers and Nureyev felt a hot gush from between his legs as he squeezed his shaking, bruised thighs around Juno’s head.

As soon as he regained any semblance of conscious thought, Nureyev shakily slid his legs down off of Juno’s shoulders. Had it not been for the detective’s sure grip on his hips, he would have fallen over, even with his own vice-like grip on the safety bar. Blinking down at Juno, he took in the sight of his wet neck, chest and stomach, confused briefly until his head caught up and he blushed.

“I appear to have made more of a mess,” Nureyev gasped out, swallowing thickly, his eyes rolling back as Juno carefully pulled his fingers out of him.

Juno hummed as he pressed a series of sucking kisses to Nureyev’s heaving stomach. “Good thing we’re in a shower, then,” Juno said with a chuckle before he looked up at Nureyev, uncertain. “Was that—are you okay?”

Nureyev considered the question.

He was still panting, his long hair a curling, sweaty mess around his face as he looked down at Juno. Nureyev’s entire body was sore and exhausted, but seeing Juno kneeling still before him, looking up at him beseechingly and covered in his slick, he couldn’t help but smile, whimpering pitifully when his dick valiantly twitched with interest.

“I’m not entirely sure I still have use of my legs, but other than that,” Nureyev eventually replied, closing his eyes as he worked to catch his breath. Looking back down at Juno, he smiled and said, “I’m feeling… very good right now.”

Juno laughed and stood, straining up for a kiss which Nureyev happily gave him. When Juno pressed close and his hard cock moved against his thigh, Nureyev let out a shivery sigh. 

“I see you’ve recovered some of your own energy?” Nureyev said hotly, cupping Juno with his hand and stroking him slowly with a loose fist.

“That was really hot,” Juno moaned against his lips, his voice thick with want and his breath hitching as he rocked gently against Nureyev’s hand. “Seeing it drip out of you, on your thighs, tasting it…”

When Juno trailed off with a loud moan, Nureyev pulled back to meet his gaze. There was a look of longing on Juno’s face, his eyes fluttering as he fucked Nureyev’s fist. With a hum of encouragement, Nureyev wrapped an arm around Juno to splay a hand across Juno’s tailbone and guide his movements.

“Thought about you—” Juno cut himself off, biting his lip and groaning, but he had a strange expression on his face.

“Thought about me… doing what, my love?” Nureyev asked, tightening his fingers around Juno’s cock and pulling a lovely moan from him.

“Forget it,” Juno sighed, lifting his hands to tangle his fingers into Nureyev’s hair, the movements of his hips quickening.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, dear detective,” Nureyev replied, cheekily regretful as he mouthed his way to Juno’s earlobe to nibble it carefully with his new teeth. “You’ll have to tell me— _oh_!”

Nureyev stopped himself abruptly, pulling back to look down at Juno and truly take him in. He observed the way Juno clung to him and rocked into his fist, his breathless panting now so close to his mouth, and the way he was shaking against him. Juno’s brow was furrowed with desperation and a low whine escaped his throat when he realized Nureyev was watching him.

Nureyev would not have been able to help the knowing smile even if he had tried.

“Do you like it when someone comes inside you, love?” he asked suggestively, ready to talk Juno into his next orgasm. Nureyev’s heart dropped, however, when guilt wiped the heated expression from his face as surely as a bucket of icy water would have.

“I mean—I know you can’t, so it’s not like I’m, y’know, disappointed—” Juno began, pulling away with shame dragging down on his shoulders.

Nureyev couldn’t have that. He refused to allow any amount of their intimacy to end while Juno looked so unhappy.

With a hungry sound, Nureyev pulled him into a kiss, deep and searching while he continued to move his hand on Juno’s cock. Pulling back from the kiss, he met Juno’s gaze.

“Love, you’re allowed to have fantasies,” he all but purred, adding, “Even if, to your knowledge, they are not possible with me.”

“What—what do you mean?” Juno asked breathlessly, his fingers twisting in Nureyev’s hair.

“Many things have been made possible with the tech for my cock,” Nureyev replied with a sly smirk, and he relished the way Juno’s hips shuddered through the next few thrusts. “If it was possible, would you want that?”

“Want what?” Juno asked, dazed as he pressed his face into Nureyev’s chest and thrust desperately into his fist.

“Would you want me to come inside you?” Nureyev asked, his voice low and sultry.

“ _Yes_ ,” Juno gasped, his voice absolutely rapturous and he tipped his mouth to suck another bruise into the small swell of Nureyev’s tit before migrating to his abused nipple.

“Would you want me to fuck my seed as deep as I could get it?” Nureyev asked with a gasp at the weak flash of pleasure that rang through him. He smiled at the sob Juno let out, the fingers in his hair twisting tighter.

“Yes, _fuck_ , please baby,” Juno all but wailed, and he tipped his head back to meet Nureyev’s gaze, his expression hot and desperately needy.

“Oh, my perfect little lady, such a good girl for me, hm?” Nureyev sighed and Juno bit his lip against his whimpers. “One more question, love?”

“Babe, please,” Juno whined, the rhythm of his hips stuttering and his breath hitching.

“Would you want me to fuck you with my tongue after?” he asked, thoroughly enjoying Juno’s choking groan. “Would you want me to clean up after myself, just like you did for me?”

“ _Yes_ ,” Juno sobbed breathlessly. “Baby, please, I gotta—Nureyev, please!”

“Let me see you come, my love,” Nureyev commanded gently, and Juno nodded frantically. After a handful of quick thrusts into his tight fist, Juno came with a near-scream, his cum splattering against Nureyev’s hip and lower abdomen.

“Oh, good girl,” Nureyev sighed as Juno slumped against his front, and the detective shuddered a bit.

“Shit, Nureyev, you’re gonna kill me at this rate,” Juno laughed, kissing Nureyev’s chest before pulling away and accepting a kiss from Nureyev.

“Let’s get cleaned up, my love. I could really use some breakfast right about now,” Nureyev suggested as his stomach audibly growled.

Juno laughed and nodded, stealing another kiss before he pulled away to start rinsing off.

* * *

next

All in all, it took about an hour and a half before they were able to behave responsibly.

Nureyev joined Juno out in the living room, his hair wet and skin still damp from their shared shower. He was wearing just his glasses, a pair of boxer briefs and a sheer button-up shirt, which hung around his shoulders, unbuttoned and open.

Juno was back in his pink sweater dress and standing by the room’s phone, his back to Nureyev as he ordered them some breakfast. When he hung up and turned to face him, the smile that overtook his features was small, but brilliant as ever. Nureyev was struck with the desire to steal him away from Mars forever.

They meet each other in the middle of the living room, Juno stepping into Nureyev’s embrace and lifting up on his toes to press his nose against the underside of Nureyev’s jaw.

When Juno inhaled deeply through his nose there, he made a soft sound. “You already put on cologne?” he asked, kissing Nureyev’s jaw lightly.

Nureyev shook his head, feeling goosebumps flash across his skin at the teasing kisses. “Not yet. Should I?” he asked, feigning offence at such a question.

But Juno didn’t laugh as Nureyev expected him to. Instead, he pulled his head back a bit to stare up at him in bewilderment. “Wait… you just smell like this?” he asked quietly. “Just, all the time?”

“I haven’t the faintest idea what you’re talking about, my love,” Nureyev confessed, smiling at him with not a little uncertainty.

“Never mind,” Juno said with a frown, biting the inside of his cheek and shaking his head. “Breakfast’ll be here soon.”

They ate their breakfast in comfortable silence, both of them bone-tired after their evening and subsequent morning, but also perfectly content. Juno looked especially satisfied as he licked the remainder of the sweetened whipped cream for his waffles out of the bowl. Juno’s gaze was far away as he did so, and for once Nureyev was grateful for his age and the limitations it created for his body; he wasn’t sure he could actually manage a third round with his beautiful lady, regardless of what his libido demanded. So while he felt a bit tingly between his legs watching Juno lick sweet cream out of a bowl, it was easily ignored.

After their breakfast, they returned to the bedroom where Juno sat on the edge of the bed to chat with Nureyev as he packed. At some point, Juno had laid down and dozed off, snoring gently. The detective looked so soft and comfortable laying there, and Nureyev wanted nothing more than to nap away the rest of the morning with him.

But he knew he couldn’t miss his flight.

If he stayed any longer, he might actually try to stay forever. The keyword there was “try”, as Nureyev knew that trying to stay was something he could do. Only, he knew himself well enough to know he would fail utterly and he would leave.

He refused to cause such disappointment and heartbreak for Juno and knew it was better that they parted ways as planned.

Nureyev was picking up their harnesses, their various pieces and components strewn around the room, when a length of black ribbon on the bed near Juno’s feet caught his attention. He vaguely remembered it as the ribbon he had used to tie off his braid, which Juno had removed and apparently promptly lost.

Smiling as he picked the ribbon up, Nureyev turned it over and twisted it around his finger thoughtfully. He had no use for it, as he had plenty of ribbons and ties and such, but for some reason, he didn’t want to just leave it or toss it away. Nureyev glanced down at Juno, and he was struck with an idea. It was stupid, probably, but when it came to Juno, Nureyev wasn’t particularly smart, and why not make a couple grand gestures before he left?

As he placed the ribbon to be found when Juno woke up, he looked around the bed for anything he might have missed and his eyes landed on something shiny catching the sunlight streaming in. Leaning over carefully, he picked it up, discovering it was Juno’s ear cuff, a rose gold chevron, which must have fallen off during one of their romps. With a sneaky smile, Nureyev put it on his own ear and resumed his packing.

With his own bags packed, and another bag packed with the assorted items for Juno, Nureyev began his other preparations.

There weren’t many, save for a quick call to the front desk and penning a quick note. Well, he had intended for it to be a quick note, but it became more of a short letter. Once it was completed, he left it on the desk in the living room under Juno’s eye patch for him to find. With the ribbon and the note sorted, and the ear cuff souvenir secured to his ear, he knew he was out of reasons to stall.

It was time to go.

The thought of it felt like he was being stabbed all over again, a white-hot pain of something cutting deep and slicing into something soft and vulnerable. Nureyev’s heart was no longer breaking; it was shattered all over the ground and had been for days.

Nureyev walked over to the bed and crouched at the edge, gently shaking Juno’s shoulder to wake him. Blinking rapidly, Juno looked around with some confusion before he met Nureyev’s gaze. With sleep still hanging on to the edges of his consciousness, Juno was an open book, completely so, and the smile that spread his lips was so genuine and so gentle, Nureyev thought he might weep. Instead, he allowed Juno to reel him into a tender kiss with a happy sigh.

The things Nureyev would have done to keep that—his perfect lady, his dear detective, his partner and friend—truly frightened him.

Juno pulled back and blinked again, giving Nureyev a proper once-over. He observed his clothes and make-up, and then glanced across the room to see the packed bags by the bedroom door. The sleepy happiness bled out of Juno’s face and he bit the inside of his cheek as he sat up.

“I have to go now, my love,” Nureyev murmured, cradling Juno’s jaw with one hand.

“I know,” he replied, his voice much steadier than his teary eyes might have suggested. Just another thing for Nureyev to admire in his beautiful detective.

“Will you be coming with me to the shuttle?” he asked, hopeful but not at all expectant.

“I-I’m—I don’t—I don’t think I can,” Juno replied, and he sounded like he was about to apologize, so Nureyev cut him off with a gentle kiss.

“That’s perfectly alright, my love. I don’t mind. I understand even,” Nureyev said, pulling him into a deep kiss, opening for Juno and gasping into his mouth. There were tears stinging the back of his eyes, and he could feel his own lip quivering against Juno’s.

Pulling away, Nureyev stood quickly and straightened his shirt as he took a fortifying breath. “I’ve requested late check-out, so the room is yours until four if you would like,” he said, clearing his throat.

Juno nodded, and Nureyev could tell he was very much in the same boat as he was; barely holding onto his composure, waiting until the other wasn’t in front of him to finally feel it.

“I’ll be in touch,” Nureyev promised, bending to kiss Juno one last time on the cheek and turning on his heel to grab his bags.

When Nureyev glanced back from the doorway, Juno was still sitting on the bed, watching him with a sad smile, chewing his cheek. Nureyev opened his mouth to say something— ‘I love you’—but he closed it again, unsure if that would help the situation, or hurt Juno even more.

It turned out that his concern was completely unfounded.

Juno took a deep breath and released it in a big whoosh. “I love you,” he said, his voice only wavering a tiny bit, and he added, “You better call me.”

Nureyev laughed and nodded. “I love you, too,” he replied and left, not looking back lest he give in to the part of him that wanted so desperately to try staying.

It was better this way. Nureyev had to believe that much to make any of the pain he was feeling worth it.

* * *

_**[JUNO]** _

Juno listened to the door of the hotel room shut with a sinking sense of sadness as he was left alone. The suite had seemed big the night before; without Nureyev, who seemed to fill every space simply by existing in it, the room felt massive and Juno was being crushed beneath its weight. 

The smell of Nureyev’s cologne and that intoxicating scent that was apparently all his own was on everything; the sheets, the pillows, and Juno’s skin. There was a moment where he wanted to get up and scrub himself clean of it and leave, and he very nearly did as tears filled his eyes.

With a deep breath, Juno grabbed one of the pillows nearby and buried his face into it, sucking in a deep breath through his nose. He drank his fill of it, resolving to wash his hands of it the moment he could raise himself from the bed.

His comms beeping woke him from the light doze he had fallen into.

With a little curse, he scrambled off the bed and dug through the bag of stuff Nureyev had left for him.

“Juno Steel,” he answered, and he hadn’t realized how hopeful he had been until his brother spoke.

 _“Hey, Juno. Just checking in,”_ Benten said, his voice unusually gentle with worry. _“It’s after lunch and we haven’t heard from you.”_

Juno sighed and began idly messing with something on his hand. “Hey, Benten. Sorry, I just fell asleep. Rex requested a late check-out, so…” Juno trailed off as he looked down at his hand, running his thumb along the black ribbon tied loosely to his finger. His ring finger. The ring finger on his left hand.

Juno took in a long, shaky breath and let it out with a small, “Oh.”

It was stupid and cheesy, and it was utterly ridiculous. It was an ill-timed romantic gesture from a man who had very little experience with long-term relationships. Juno knew that wasn’t how it worked; he had been through a long relationship, and then a lengthy engagement. Things like that required work, more than two weeks of flirting, a couple romantic evenings, and a near-death experience. Juno knew all of that.

Knowing it, however, did nothing to stop the way his broken heart from almost pounded right out of his chest.

 _“Juno?”_ Benten prompted, shaking him from his thoughts. _“Is Rex still there?”_

Taking a deep breath, Juno released it in a gusty sigh, resolving to ignore the ribbon and what it might mean. It was stupid, and Juno was going to give Nureyev a piece of his mind when—if he called.

“Nope,” he replied quietly. “He left a couple hours ago.”

Benten was quiet for a moment, before he asked, _“Did you see him off, then?”_

“Nope,” Juno said, popping the ‘p’ to try to lighten his tone. “I— He asked me to, but I didn’t.”

Juno regretted that decision immensely.

He had thought it would be easier, to stay there surrounded by the scent of Nureyev rather than watching him get on a shuttle and leave his life forever. But now Juno felt like he was just waiting for Nureyev to walk back into his life, that he’d never walked out of it. It was as if Nureyev was just in the bathroom, or he would come sweeping into the living room declaring he had secured them a reservation at the nicest place in town.

Or, if he just closed his eyes tight and wished hard enough, he could return to that quiet space that morning, and Nureyev would still be in the bed beside him.

* * *

Juno woke up to the sunrise streaming in through the huge walls of windows that surrounded the bed on two sides. His own bedroom had black-out curtains to avoid that exact thing from happening to him. Grumbling, Juno screwed his eyes shut again and rolled over, letting out a startled sound when his hand touched warm skin.

Opening his eyes blearily, his breath caught at the sight of Nureyev, lying on his back with the sheets tangled around his legs and waist, one hand resting on his stomach while the other was under the pillow he was laying on. He was still sound asleep, snoring lightly with his mouth open just enough to show off his sharp teeth. The new implants caught the sun in a way that was almost ethereal and Juno was tempted to reach over and push Nureyev’s lip up just a bit so that he could see the implants in their entirety.

Nureyev’s long hair was fanned out around him, completely mussed from the sleek orderly braid he had put it in after their shower. Much of it was strewn across the pillow while some of it covered his face. Every few breaths, Nureyev would wrinkle his nose adorably as the thin, silky strands shifted.

Juno propped himself on his elbows next to his lover and reached over to sweep his hair out of his face with gentle fingers. In his sleep, Nureyev hummed happily and turned his face toward the contact, sighing and settling into a deeper sleep as Juno’s hand cradled his cheek.

Pulling his hand back with a shaky exhale, Juno laid back down on his side to watch Nureyev sleep. Slowly and carefully, Juno reached out to cover the hand Nureyev had resting on his stomach, feeling the slow rise and fall of his breathing, and counting each breath. He watched his thief sleep, watched as the sun rose and the light changed and the shadows shifted across his beautiful features.

Somehow, beyond all reason, he fell even more in love with Peter Nureyev.

Movement beyond his thief’s sleeping profile caught Juno’s eye and he lifted his head just enough to look out the window, watching as Hyperion City began to wake.

The fantasy of waking up every morning like that struck Juno with such force, he felt winded by it. The image of Nureyev peacefully asleep next to him was one thing, but the silhouette of his profile against the Hyperion City skyline had Juno’s heart aching. The desire to keep Nureyev there and make it work somehow was overwhelming. Juno could beg him to stay, to choose boredom if it meant that Juno could keep what they had there in that bed.

The worst thing about that fantasy was that Juno knew that Nureyev wouldn’t deny him. It didn’t matter to Nureyev whether Juno deserved it; he would make the sacrifice in a heartbeat and that only made Juno want it even more. It was so selfish, so needy, and Juno felt his gut twist up with guilt.

His thoughts became overwhelming, and it broke his heart to even consider them any further. It was suddenly too much to look at Nureyev sleeping so contentedly for even a moment longer, so he kissed him awake, delighting in Nureyev’s sleepy giggle so much he thought he might explode with his fondness.

* * *

_“Juno?”_ Benten’s voice once again snapped Juno out of his thoughts, bringing him back to the present, where he was alone and the bed was cold. _“Are you… okay?”_

“I’m fine, Ben,” he lied.

Benten made a noise of frustration. _“That’s not what I asked, Juno,”_ he snapped, and as if he realized his tone was too harsh, he added, _“But whatever. How about you come home?”_

“Yeah, okay,” Juno said with a sigh. “I’ll head home. See you in thirty.”

Hanging up the comms, Juno stripped the pillowcases and sheets without even properly thinking about it. He did think quite a bit about it as he did some creative folding to fit the linens in the bag under the clothes and other items Nureyev had set aside for him. Satisfied with his work, Juno set about locating his eyepatch, a bit frustrated that it wasn’t in the bag.

He found it on the desk in the living room and made a face, confused that it would be out there when he had last seen it in the bathroom. As Juno approached the desk, he saw a note with hurried handwriting, and he felt his breath leave him in a rush as he read it:

> _My Beloved Juno,_
> 
> _It pains me that we must part after so short a time together, and I can only hope that the forces of fate see fit to reunite us. Last night was one of the best nights of my life, in competition only with the night you allowed me the opportunity to know you. There is simply no forgetting you, or your beauty, or the way you felt in my arms._
> 
> _I’m sure you will have found the ribbon and divined at least some of my intentions._
> 
> _It serves as a symbol of how I feel bound to you, which is no hardship, my goddess, I assure you. I have chosen this bond again and again, and I will choose this every time, in every timeline if given the chance. There is no better existence or greater calling than being in love with, and loved by, Juno Steel. It is my greatest desire that someday we can have a life together, one where neither of us will have to make sacrifices or compromise on what’s important._
> 
> _I dream of the day I might get to show you the stars, and all of the beautiful planets I’ve told you about. We would be quite the pair, I think._
> 
> _I love you, Juno Steel._
> 
> _Sincerely, Your Better Half…_

Juno shuddered through a breath, and when his brain caught up he realized he was crying. The letter itself was signed, not with his name, but with a kiss in the same light pink lip stain Nureyev had been wearing when he’d left.

“Nureyev, you idiot,” Juno muttered to the empty room with a watery smile while he tucked the letter into the pocket of his dress. 

He got home a short while later, his head made quiet by all of the little tasks it took to settle the room and the cab ride home. Juno gave the cab driver a sizable tip before heading inside, ready to remake his bed with the stolen linens then mope in the privacy of his own room.

When he got into the apartment, however, Juno was almost tackled to the floor.

“Oh, Mista Steel, we were so worried!” Rita all but wailed into his chest, her voice only slightly muffled. “And you sounded so sad on the comms. I was gonna go home, but I’m stayin’ and we’re havin’ ourselves a ladies night.”

“Thanks, Rita,” he said as he reluctantly returned the hug, and for a moment he was ready to turn down her offer. The thought of being alone after the night he had with Nureyev, however, felt far too bleak, even for him. Benten was standing off to the side and watching Juno with concern clear on his face. “I would love that.”

Juno shuffled off to his room to put his stuff away and remake his bed, and then he changed into something comfortable and lazy. He fished the letter out of the pocket of his dress to read it over one more time before he rejoined Rita and Benten in the living room.

He couldn’t help but smile at the set-up Rita managed.

The entire couch looked more like a mound of pillows and blankets, while the coffee table was covered in treats, snacks, and countless bottles of nail polish. Rita was already buried in blankets on her side of the couch as she set up the monitor for their streams. Benten was standing nearby, eyeing the whole thing sceptically before he turned his attention to Juno.

“You okay, Juno?” Benten asked, and Juno felt some of the tension melt out of his shoulders when Benten held his free hand gently.

Juno still forced a smile and said, “Always.”

“You know I can tell when you’re lying, right?” Benten asked, completely unimpressed. “Same face, same tells. I’m just better at hiding them.”

Making a face, Juno shrugged. “I’ll be okay, Ben. Just, right now, I’m… you know.”

“No, I don’t ‘know.’ You’re… what? Sad? Relieved? Scared?” Benten asked flatly.

“I don’t know, Ben! I really don’t,” Juno snapped, sighing heavily. “Can I please just… go make myself sick on junk food?”

Benten looked at Juno through narrowed eyes and squeezed his hand a bit. Then his eyes flicked downward and locked onto the note in Juno’s other hand. “What’s that?”

“A note Rex left me,” he replied, and he flinched at the sound Rita made.

“A note?!” she shrieked as she pulled herself up above the blankets and held out her hands, making little grabby motions as she shouted, “Gimme! Gimmegimmegimme!”

Juno made a face and glared at her with no heat. “Who says I want you to read it at all?” he asked.

“Mista Steel, if you didn’t want me readn’ your note, you wouldn’t’a brought it out here, and you definitely wouldn’t’a said it was from Rex where I could hear you,” she replied, completely unimpressed with Juno.

With a sigh, Juno walked over to the couch and flopped into the blankets, barely getting settled before Rita was yanking the note out of his hand.

“Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!” she chanted as she opened it. “Aw, Mista Benzaiten, look! Mista Glass signed it with a kiss! That’s so sweet! Okay, okay, okay, focus Rita. ‘My beloved Juno’, aww Mista Steel! That’s so romantic! Okay, ‘it pains me that we must part after so short a time together, and I can only hope that the forces of fate’— aw, Mista Steel, this is so sweet!”

“Or cheesy,” Benten supplied from across the room.

“Shush! Anyway, ‘I’m sure you will have found the ribbon and divined at least some of my intentions’—” Rita made a scandalized sound as she looked up at Juno with narrowed eyes. “Mista Steel, the ribbon ain’t on your woohoo, right? Like this ain’t actually a naughty letter you’re trickn’ me into reading, right?”

Juno actually laughed, thumbing the ribbon absently. “It’s not on my dick, Rita,” he reassured, laughing harder at Rita’s shriek.

“Whoa, Boss, way too much information! I called it a woohoo for a reason!” she all but howled at him, smacking him with a pillow.

“Can we continue with the note?” Benten asked, his voice strained.

“Right! The letta’!” Rita said, taking a deep breath. “Okay, okay, okay, where was I? Right, the ribbon that is not on Mista Steel’s woohoo. Blah blah blah ‘it symbolizes my’— blah blah blah wow Mista Steel, he really goes on doesn’t he?”

“Unlike other people I know,” Juno said teasingly, which Rita ignored completely.

“Okay, ‘it is my greatest desire that someday we can have a life together, one where neither of us must make sacrifices or compromise’— Boss!” Rita gasped, looking up at Juno’s face before her eyes zeroed in on his left hand with a squeal. “Aw, Mista Steel! He’s practically—”

“Don’t,” Juno said shortly, shaking his head abruptly. He still wasn’t prepared to think about it too much, and he didn’t need his brother knowing about it either.

“Sorry, Boss. That was just excitin’ for a sec,” Rita said with a quick breath. “Okay, so he basically pops the question—”

“What?!” Benten shouted, and Juno groaned and covered his face.

“— blah blah blah and ‘I love you, Juno Steel’—”

“Wait, can we back up a little bit?!” Benten interjected, suddenly standing above them. Rita completely ignored him.

“—Boss, I’m gonna cry! Oh my goodness, this is so beautiful, and the end!” she squealed, kicking her little feet in her excitement. “‘Signed, Your Better Half’ and the kiss! Oh, Mista Steel, this is so sweet!”

“Sweet?!” Benten snapped, grabbing Juno’s left hand and making a face at the ribbon. “Seems pretty mean to me.”

“Why’s that, Ben?” Juno asked tensely, pulling his hand away and running his fingertip along the ribbon.

“Writing something that pretty? Talking about fate, and the ribbon, all while you’re leaving?” Benten started, shaking his head and crossing his arms. “A clean break would be kinder. No note, no waxing poetic about your intense but ultimately doomed feelings, and no vague promises about a maybe-future.”

“I mean, that may seem kinder, Mista Benzaiten, but I don’t think there’s such a thing as clean breaks when you’re in love,” Rita said, and before Benten could respond, she waggled her eyebrows at Juno. “Mista Glass went on a bit in the middle there, sayin’ he’d be ‘rememberin’ last night’ as long as he lives.”

Juno only smirked and Benten gagged, walking away. “Okay, I’m out. You two enjoy this,” Benten said dramatically. “I’ll be in my room with noise-cancelling headphones on.”

Rita and Juno watched him walk away and they waited a few more minutes before he smiled at his best friend. “Thanks, Rita,” he murmured.

“No problem, Boss,” Rita replied with a smile. Heaving a huge sigh, she turned to the monitor stiffly and scrolled through the lists of streams. “So, what do ya wanna start first, Mista Steel?”

Juno snorted a bit sceptically. “You don’t actually want to know?” he asked. “About last night?”

Rita turned on him with alarming speed and enthusiasm. “Of course, I wanna know, Mista Steel!” she scolded before adding, “I just didn’t wanna, y’know, push you or upset you by makin’ you talk about it while you were sad and stuff.”

Juno smiled and burrowed himself into the blankets and pillows. “Nah,” he said with a dreamy sigh. “I’ll tell you if you want—”

“Oh boy, oh boy, _oh boy_!” Rita shrieked, shaking the whole couch with her excited dancing. “Tell me _everything_!”

And thus their evening went, which eventually led to Juno sprawled on the couch with Rita falling asleep on top of him. He idly played with the ribbon around his finger, thinking about thieves, and stars, and far away planets he would never see.

He was startled out of his thoughts when Benten dropped onto the couch on his other side and pulled him into a full cuddle. Rita shifted with a sleepy grumble but otherwise continued to sleep, the new position causing her to snore.

“Ben, what the hell—”

“Shut up, you promised,” Benten grumbled against the top of his head.

After his little foray into Mayor Pereyra’s vault, he had received the longest and loudest lecture of his life from Benten and Mick. Juno had agreed that once he had squared everything away with Nureyev, he would spend an evening with Benten doing whatever he wanted.

“That’s a dangerous promise to make, Juno. What if I want to cuddle?” Benten had asked.

Juno had just rolled his eyes, doubtful Benten would waste such a promise on something like that, and said, “Then I guess I’ll just have to cuddle.”

Thinking back to when he made the promise, however, brought the whole lecture that came before it to the forefront of his mind. With a dramatically put-upon sigh, Juno relaxed into the embrace and grunted when Benten squeezed him.

“Hey, Ben?” Juno started, and at Benten’s hum of acknowledgement, he said, “I am sorry I hid that stuff from you. It was stupid, and you had a right to know.”

“Yeah, I did,” Benten agreed bitterly. “Seeing you like that just— even though it wasn’t your blood, it was still— I can’t do it again, I just can’t. Once was enough, thanks. Twice is just mean.”

“I know,” Juno agreed. “I’m just really— I always feel like I have to… not take care of you, because you’re an adult, _obviously_ , but—”

“Protect me?” Benten supplied, and his voice sounded strange, a bit far-away as he thought about something.

Juno pulled away and sat up enough so he could turn to look at Benten, taking in the sad tilt to his mouth with a bit of confusion. “Yeah, I guess,” Juno confirmed. “What’s up, Ben?”

“It was something Rex said to me, after the gala,” he replied reluctantly, rolling his eyes. “Well, more the day before your date. About you being my 'shield' or whatever, and how I let you—”

Juno felt some anger flare in him that Nureyev had said anything like that to Benten. It was Juno’s responsibility to look out for Benten, and it had been for as long as he could remember. Nureyev had no right to say anything that would imply otherwise, least of all to Benten.

“Ben—” Juno tried to interrupt.

“No, Juno, he was _right_ ,” Benten snapped. “I pretty much knew you were being threatened, somehow, after that job. It wasn’t too hard to put together. What could possibly make you drop something? I didn’t know for sure, but it wasn’t too hard to guess.”

“But I’m—”

“And this isn’t even about that, but all of it,” Benten said with a gusty sigh, biting his lip and looking away from Juno. “I could’ve— why did I never serve a single day in detention, Juno? I earned it plenty, yet it was always you. I got into more fights than you ever did, but it was always you who served my detention.”

“That was my choice, though,” Juno said stubbornly.

“Yeah, well I could’ve set the record straight, too, but I never did,” Benten said, tilting his head back to stare at the ceiling. “I’ve just gone through life, letting you take the fall, letting you stick your neck out or throw yourself on the blade for me, just everything, and that was just… really shitty of me.”

“Ben, that’s not—”

“No more,” Benten interrupted, meeting Juno’s gaze. “No more protecting me, especially from the shit I brought on myself, and no more hiding shit from me. Deal?”

“It’s not that simple—”

“I asked if we had a deal, Juno,” Benten snapped, glaring a bit. “And the only answer you better have for me is ‘yes’.”

Juno narrowed his eyes, but he could see that his brother would not budge on this. His only way out of it would be to make his agreement contingent on something that Benten wouldn’t meet.

“I’ll agree to that if you talk to me about that shit with Diamond you’ve been hiding from me,” Juno said, working hard to keep the smug note out of his voice.

“Ugh,” Benten complained, rolling his eyes. “This doesn’t count as my evening of cuddles, by the way. Just so you know.”

“Whatever,” Juno said flatly.

“Fine, but like, it’s a lot,” Benten said, and Juno almost groaned about him actually accepting his terms. “And you have to promise not to be mad at me because it’s not fair to be mad at me about it since all of this is like, ancient history, okay?”

“I can’t promise that, Ben, but I’ll try,” Juno said with a raised eyebrow.

“Diamond and I met at that bar I worked at before I got hired on at the studio, right? We hit it off pretty well, became friends, and…” Benten trailed off for a moment, squeezing his eyes shut as he confessed, “We never fully hooked up, but I mean, it was clear he wanted to. But I kept it clean between us.” 

Benten paused, keeping his eyes screwed shut as if expecting Juno to shout at him.

Juno from a month ago probably would have; that was news to him, that Diamond had wanted Benten at some point before knowing Juno. That was information that would have changed everything regarding their relationship. It likely wouldn’t have even happened at all. 

Juno knew there was more to the story, however, so he waited for Benten to continue.

“When I found out he was dating you a few months later— fuck, Juno I ripped into him. Told him to stay away from you, to not pull that on you like everyone else, that I would hate him if he—” Benten cut himself off, taking a deep breath in through his nose. “Whatever, obviously, he talked me down. And you were so happy. I thought Diamond was a great friend, and I figured if I had a reason to worry… I just figured you would be the first to know something was up.”

“We both figured it was safe,” Juno said with a sigh, and Benten nodded.

“And then it still happened, and I didn’t tell you when he, y’know, because I really thought he would do the right thing by you, or you’d work it out,” Benten said miserably. “I didn’t— I swear if I knew how bad it was— how bad _he_ was, I would’ve told you. I would’ve— I would’ve done something _really_ violent and _really_ satisfying, and then told you.”

“I know, Ben,” Juno said sadly, and he leaned into Benten’s side again. Not for the first time, Juno felt intense guilt that he had held it against Benten for so long, that he didn’t see that Benten wouldn’t have chosen Diamond’s side in a million years.

That Benten had only expected his best friend and brother’s fiance to be a decent person. 

“I never, ever want that to come between us again,” Benten continued, his voice thick with unshed tears and Juno twisted as much as he could with Rita still passed out cold on top of him to hug his brother. Immediately, Benten folded against him, burying his face against Juno’s shoulder and letting out a shaky sob.

Suddenly, something that had been eating at him for days had context and _made sense_.

“Ben,” Juno started slowly as Benten’s breathing against his shoulder settled, and at his hum, Juno asked, “Is this why you’ve been such an asshole to Rex?”

Benten was quiet for a long time before he mumbled, “… Maybe.”

“ _Ben_ —!”

“Okay, listen,” Benten said as he lifted his head. “I wasn’t even doing it on purpose, like consciously or whatever. But if I made myself so unlikable, there was no way he would even… think to do that to you—”

“Us, Ben,” Juno interrupted, blowing out a heavy breath. “All these years, all of those just… awful people have been doing it to _us_.”

“Juno, c’mon, you don’t have to—”

“When was the last time I met _any_ of your friends, Ben?” Juno asked suddenly, as even more realizations slotted into place. “Or you even risked me running into any of your friends with benefits? Or the guys you have over sometimes?”

Juno paused to give Benten a chance to answer, but he didn’t even appear to be working on one. Instead, he just looked away pointedly, chewing on his lip.

“Bottom line, I’ve been going on, all woe is me like you somehow had the better deal out of it,” Juno circled back. “But you didn’t. It sucked for both of us.”

Benten snorted a bit, and said, “At the gala, when I told Rex about why you were dumb enough to think he asked me out, you wanna know what he asked?”

“Sure?” Juno agreed, already tensing a bit.

“He asked something like ‘what about you’. Like, he asked me about how I felt,” Benten said with a huff. “That kept me up all night.”

“You know, you and Rex would really get along if you gave him a chance,” Juno said with a laugh, settling in against his brother again.

“I’m aware,” Benten sighed, wrapping his arms around Juno. “I don’t like his letter though, and I still think he was better off saying goodbye, full stop, so he’s on my shit-list regardless.”

Juno just snorted and said around a yawn, “Whatever, Ben.”

“Remember our deal, Super Steel,” Benten said, yawning loudly. “I unpacked my damage about Diamond, so no more martyring yourself, or getting me out of the consequences of my own actions.”

At that, Benten yawned and Juno could feel when he drifted off to sleep beside him, his arms still around him lightly.

* * *

Juno’s comms beeped while he was putting down a stack of dishes after the lunch rush, and he took his time answering. It had been a week since he’d seen Nureyev, and Juno had managed to stop jumping at every call. He wasn’t able to calm his frantically beating heart, but that was beside the point. Benten’s words about clean breaks came to mind, not for the first nor likely for the last time.

“Steel,” Juno said curtly as he answered the comms, already grabbing another stack of dishes to put in the sink.

_“Hello, Juno. It's been a bit.”_

He barely saved the stack of plates from their untimely demise on the floor as Nureyev’s smooth voice washed over him.

“Rex,” he breathed, and he was embarrassed by how winded he sounded. Putting the dishes down with a loud clatter, he added, “Hi, Rex. Uh, hi.”

Juno absolutely cringed at how ridiculous he was being, as if he were some teenager. Without realizing it, he had begun running his finger along the ribbon Nureyev had left him, which he had since tied around his wrist.

 _“Hi,”_ Nureyev replied, his tone so fond that Juno ached with the wish to hiss him. _“Did I catch you at a bad time?”_

Nureyev had, actually. The midday rush was over, which meant Juno had to clean up the dishes and get started on the afternoon and evening chores to prepare for closing.

“Can you call back in five hours?” he asked, chewing his cheek.

 _“Unfortunately, I would not be able to make any guarantees, love,”_ Nureyev replied with a chuckle.

“Then this is a perfect time,” Juno said firmly and began filling the sink to get to washing the dishes.

Nureyev laughed, and Juno felt his heart swell and his stomach drop. He wanted to hear that laugh every day, and he was almost embarrassed by how much he loved it. Juno should’ve been embarrassed by how much he loved the man at all, if he was honest.

 _“How are you doing, my love?”_ Nureyev asked after a short time.

Juno hummed, thinking about his answer to that question. He knew what he wanted to say—like he’s had his lifeline cut and been set adrift—but was unable to speak the words aloud. What would that accomplish other than upsetting both of them? “I’m doing okay,” he replied, which was mostly truthful. “Rita’s putting her feelers out for a case, and the cafe is… the cafe.”

 _“How are you doing about us, Juno?”_ Nureyev pressed, and Juno rolled his eyes with a groan.

“I don’t know, Rex. It’s— I’m trying not to think about it most of the time,” he admitted, before quietly asking, “What about you?”

 _“About the same, to be honest,”_ Nureyev replied, with a sigh. _“I never realized how lonely I was before…”_

_‘You.’_

It went unsaid, but Juno could hear it plain as day because he had thought it at some point at least once a day since Nureyev left. The past week had been normal as if the last month hadn’t happened at all. He would get up early, open the cafe, serve his customers and yell at his brother, and then they would go home to bed, but having a taste of something more was enough to shift Juno’s entire perspective.

“I guess I can relate to that, too,” he eventually said.

 _“I can’t stay on long, I just…”_ Nureyev began, and there was a shaky quality to his voice before he cleared his throat. _“I wanted to hear your voice.”_

Juno nodded, and then realizing Nureyev couldn’t see him, he said, “Yeah. I wanted to hear you, too. You’ll call again?”

“Of course, my Juno,” Nureyev sighed, and Juno could hear the smile in his voice. _“As soon as I can manage it.”_

“I’ll talk to you then,” Juno said with a small smile, before haltingly adding, “I love you.”

_“I love you, too, my dear detective.”_

The comms disconnected, and Juno sighed, smiling dreamily down at the sink full of soapy water and dirty dishes.

The next few months passed similarly, with Juno going a couple weeks with no word from Nureyev, and then having a comms conversation with him for varying amounts of time. The calls tended to be short and sweet, just enough to say hello and catch up a bit. Sometimes, however, they could have longer calls and even activate their cameras to see each other while they talked, or while they did other things.

As for the ribbon, after a few close calls with losing or destroying it, Juno had to figure out another way to keep it with him. It was frayed from the abuse of wearing it around his wrist for as long as he’d managed it, but he refused to get rid of it. With some digging through his room, he found an old pendant he had, a gift Benten gave him years ago, of an Earth tree in a circle. There had been some hokey Earth legend about it, which Juno had listened to then promptly forgot about, but it was pretty, and when he wove the ribbon through the branches, it made it look like the tree had leaves. Juno wore it on a chain long enough to keep it under his clothes resting against his chest.

And it was great. It felt like a perfect compromise for them, something that allowed them the best of both worlds.

Benten wasn’t convinced, however. Whenever Juno’s comms beeped, Benten would tense, and when it was actually Nureyev, he would roll his eyes and leave the room. They never argued about it, but that had nothing to do with Benten actually respecting or understanding Juno’s judgment.

Once, when they were teenagers, Benten had said that arguing with Juno wasn’t worth the effort unless it was about something he could win.

Still, even without the argument Juno knew his brother wanted to have, he heard in his mind what Benten had said about clean breaks all those months ago. Every time Benten’s mouth went into a tight line at the sound of a comms beeping, and his eyes turned angry and sad as he walked away, Juno thought of it.

The hardest thing, however, was waking up in the mornings. In the short moments between waking and opening his eyes, Juno would recall the image of Nureyev asleep beside him. He couldn’t even remember the skyline through the window with any amount of detail, but Nureyev’s sharp profile was dug in like a tick. For the briefest of moments, Juno was convinced he could smell him again, could feel the heat of him nearby, hear his soft snores past parted lips. Then he would open his eyes, and struggle to get out of his bed under the crushing loneliness.

Overall, though, things were working fine, maybe even better than fine.

Until Nureyev changed things.

It had started as a normal call. Of course, that was always the case with things; regardless of how they ended, they usually started normally.

Juno was sitting in bed, flipping through an information booklet he had picked up from the P.I. Registry when his comms beeped. Without even looking at the device, he answered, his heart racing hopefully.

“This is Juno Steel,” he answered curtly, flipping the next page slowly but no longer actually looking at what was on the page.

 _“Hello, darling,”_ Nureyev said, his tone silky in Juno’s ear, making him shiver. _“May I see your face, my love?”_

Juno scrambled to set his comms up at the end of the bed and situated himself across the duvet in a way that he hoped looked enticing before activating the camera. He wished he’d had more warning so he could have worn something prettier than his oversized pink nightshirt with the word “babygirl” emblazoned across his tits.

He was determined to work with what he had, though, and maybe if he was good, Nureyev would call him that…

When Juno accepted the video comms invitation, he was entirely unprepared for Nureyev to have had the same train of thought.

There were several times over the past few months where Nureyev had asked to speak on camera, but he wasn’t somewhere private. Oftentimes, Nureyev was somewhere in the galaxy where it was midday and he was calling from the restaurant patio where he had been researching a mark. Very rarely did Nureyev call from a bed, and when he did, he was always still fully clothed.

That night, however, Juno was treated to the sight of Nureyev lying on his side, propped on an elbow wearing the same sheer robe he had worn all those months ago and nothing else, it appeared. The robe was tied shut loosely, the front of it gapping enough for Juno to see nearly his entire chest. The blankets on the bed Nureyev was sprawled across were bunched up in front of his hips, and Nureyev had one pale leg thrown over a pillow. Juno could see enough to know that Nureyev was certainly not wearing any underwear either.

The robe had slipped off of Nureyev’s shoulder while Juno was openly staring, and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to fix it or tear the rest of it off of him.

 _“Oh, Juno,”_ Nureyev breathed at the same time that Juno gasped.

Nureyev laid there, tall, lean, and wearing nothing but a see-through robe with his long hair loose around his face. Yet he was looking at Juno as if he were the most beautiful being in the universe.

 _“You’re so beautiful, my love,”_ Nureyev sighed dreamily and when he moved, his breath hitched just enough to catch Juno’s attention and have heat pooling below the waist.

“You’re one to talk, babe,” Juno whispered, his voice a bit strained from the way he could tell that Nureyev was drinking in the sight of him which had Juno feeling hot all over. “You have any particular reason for not wearing any clothes?”

 _“Well, I have a bit of a surprise for you,”_ Nureyev replied, biting his lip and showing off his rose gold teeth. _“And I was getting ready for bed, thus it seemed expeditious to strip before our call.”_

“I hate surprises,” Juno said breathlessly as Nureyev shifted until he was leaning on his hand while he untied the belt of the robe. As it came undone, one side of the robe fell away completely to expose half of Nureyev’s chest entirely, and Juno bit his cheek on a gasp.

 _“Got them done a few months ago,”_ Nureyev hummed, circling his nipple with a fingertip, keeping Juno’s attention locked on the simple little barbell there. _“Been waiting for them to heal to show you.”_

Juno wasn’t sure if he’d ever gotten so hard, so quickly before in his life, and for a moment he struggled to breathe. When he finally managed to suck in a proper breath, he cleared his throat. 

“Copycat,” he accused thickly, reaching up to rub his own tit through his shirt.

 _“Indeed,”_ Nureyev murmured, shrugging free of his robe to show off both nipples, now perfectly adorned with silver.

“What?” Juno asked breathlessly, heat thrumming through his core.

 _“You enjoy yours so much, and I couldn’t stop thinking about how good it felt when you touched me here,”_ Nureyev replied, gasping and shuddering when he brushed his finger across his nipple. _“So I got them done. And now they’ve healed!”_

“Shit,” Juno groaned and rocked his hips against the bed.

 _“How about we have a bit of fun, love?”_ Nureyev suggested, his voice just as hot and needy, and Juno grinned.

“Yeah,” he breathed, delighting in the excited laughter from Nureyev as he sat up and pulled his nightshirt off over his head.

_** [click to skip smut] ** _

* * *

Nureyev moaned as he looked Juno over, his eyes dark with want behind his glasses while he licked his lips. Juno luxuriated under that gaze, even if it still felt undeserved. Refusing to let his negativity ruin their time together, Juno shook those thoughts away and pulled his underwear off.

Then Juno began to fiddle with his comms a bit, separating the projected screen from the camera before laying back against his pillows. The position had his body completely exposed to Nureyev’s gaze, while Juno could hold the screen and not miss a moment of the thief’s pleasure. Nureyev was also setting up his comms, conveniently giving Juno an up-close view of the new piercings. Juno’s mouth watered at the sight of them and he desperately wanted to be right there with him.

Those were dangerous thoughts to be having, however, so Juno took the opportunity to roll over and strain to reach the bedside table to grab his bottle of lube.

There was no way for Nureyev to know whether Juno bent his knee just enough to purposely show off his hole and pierced taint, as well as his steadily swelling cock. Juno couldn’t quite keep the smirk off his face when he heard Nureyev quietly gasp, _“Oh, Juno.”_

Snagging the lube, Juno shifted back so he was on his elbows and knees while centered in front of the camera. Spreading his legs wide, Juno looked back at the screen of his comms that laid on the pillow in front of him.

Juno was not at all prepared for the sight that greeted him.

Nureyev was sitting back against the pillows, his knees bent and legs spread to show off his hot-pink cock standing proud between his thighs. The implants along his hips were glowing a dim green, which meant Nureyev had been ready before he even made the call. The thought of Nureyev inserting the cock and activating it, just to sit there aroused and hard, knocked the wind out of Juno. The device acted as a nearly constant source of pleasure once it was fully connected, which meant it would quickly become uncomfortable if it wasn’t stimulated.

There were a few moments where they just looked at each other, their breathing quickening the longer the moment lengthened. Finally, Juno moved to roll over onto his back when Nureyev made a soft noise.

 _“Stay just like that,”_ Nureyev said firmly, and Juno felt the command in his cock, gasping as it throbbed. _“The things I would do to you right now, Juno.”_

Juno sighed, letting out a shuddery vocalization at the end of it as he reached between his thighs to palm his sac while he pressed two fingers against the barbell in his taint. Shifting some more, Juno dropped to his chest to free up both of his hands.

“Tell me?” Juno asked, his voice tense as he massaged his perineum while he watched Nureyev stroke his cock slowly. The length of it and his fingers glistened with lube, and Juno wished it could have been his spit instead, that he could feel the press of those fingers on his tongue again.

Juno pulled his hand away from himself to fumble with his bottle of lube, slicking up both hands. He returned with one hand between his legs while he reached behind himself with the other. He whimpered as he pressed one finger inside, as far as he could at that angle, and Nureyev’s groan was music to his ears.

“What would you do to me baby?” he asked breathlessly.

 _“I would finger you open, just like that, get you nice and ready for my cock,”_ the thief said, sighing as Juno wrapped his other hand around his cock and loosely pumped it. _“Work you open to as many fingers as you could handle, until you begged for it.”_

Juno chuckled at that, tightening his grip and pressing a second finger inside, and said, “That wouldn’t take very long.”

 _“Oh, I know, my love. It’s something that I think about a lot,”_ Nureyev moaned, and Juno whined. The thought of someone like Nureyev thinking about him like that was intensely arousing. He didn’t deserve it, but he wasn’t going to complain about it either.

 _“I would take you gently while you were still tight,”_ Nureyev said, quiet and strained as his head tipped back. _“Finish working you open and loose with my cock.”_

Juno remembered the last time he had that cock inside him, the way he felt it inside him for days after. He couldn’t breathe with his want for it again.

 _“Give yourself another finger, love, and I’ll continue,”_ Nureyev commanded, and Juno obeyed without a second thought. The stretch was tight and pulled a hiss from Juno, but he imagined his lover’s cock splitting him open instead and moaned.

 _“You’re so good for me, Juno, so perfect. I would make love to you nice and slow, until you made that noise of yours,”_ Nureyev breathed, and almost as if on cue, Juno’s entire body relaxed and he let out a low whine. _“There it is. Perfect, my love.”_

“What else?” Juno prompted impatiently, fucking himself with his own fingers.

Nureyev took a shaking breath, his hand speeding up on his cock for a moment before he backed off, groaning thickly.

 _“I’d fuck you into the mattress, love,”_ Nureyev all but gasped, and Juno watched the way his long, perfect body arched off the pillows. _“I would hold you down by that perfect ass and fuck you as hard and fast as we could take it.”_

Nureyev slipped his other hand between his legs to play with the implants in his labia, moaning desperately at the added stimulation.

“Play with your tits, N’reyev,” Juno said as he watched his lover, and Nureyev actually looked a bit confused. But then he raised one hand up and brushed across his pierced nipple.

The reaction was beautiful, the way Nureyev’s back arched and his hand quickened on his own cock, the groan that erupted from his throat strangled.

 _“Oh, that is so good,”_ Nureyev hummed, his grin dreamy as he thumbed his nipple before his mouth went slack with his pleasure. He fucked his fist as he pinched and rolled his nipple, and gasped, _“I’d hold you down, make you_ scream _.”_

Juno turned his face to look back at the screen, letting out a desperate whine at the absolute vision Nureyev made. His long torso arching off the bed, his head thrown back with his black and silver hair spread across the pillows while some stuck to his sweaty face and neck, his glasses askew on his face and nearly falling off. He was close, closer than Juno was, if the way his chest heaved with each sobbing breath and his gut tensed was anything to go by.

“N’reyev,” Juno whimpered, and he watched as Nureyev dazedly turned to look at the screen on his bedside table. He was so gorgeous, so perfect, and so close. With some effort, Juno let go of his cock and pulled his fingers out of himself to roll over. Looking directly into the camera now, he wrapped his hand around himself again with a sigh, as he said, “Will you come for me, Nureyev? Please?”

He heard Nureyev choke off a sob, and at his strained, _“Oh, Juno,”_ he turned his head to look back at the screen of his comms.

Nureyev mid-orgasm was always an amazing sight to behold. The way his tight expression would go slack, his mouth falling open while his eyes rolled back. Nureyev released a guttural moan, before sobbing through the aftershocks, his eyes fluttering while he sucked in each breath desperately.

Juno’s own release wasn’t far behind, his gut tight with how close he was. It was honestly a miracle he hadn’t come undone already at the sounds Nureyev made through his release, or the way Nureyev looked regaining some semblance of conscious thought.

 _“I wasn’t done telling you what I wanted to do to you,”_ Nureyev finally gasped out, pushing his glasses back up his nose, and Juno chuckled through a moan.

“Tell me,” Juno begged, tightening his grip on his cock.

 _“I’ve been researching options, possible ways to have my cock updated,”_ he began, his voice deep with want and Juno gasped. He knew where Nureyev was going with that line of thought, and he wanted it so much.

“Oh, fuck, yes,” Juno whined, the coil in his gut pulling even tighter. 

_“Imagine it, love. Imagine me coming inside you, wet and hot,”_ Nureyev moaned, and Juno sobbed at it. The thief sighed, _“Could truly mark you as mine, my perfect Juno, from the inside out.”_

Juno was rocking into his fist frantically, his eyes rolling back in his head. It was Juno’s most revisited fantasy, to feel Nureyev come inside him and make a mess of him back there. 

_“And imagine when I pull out, I could watch as my cum dripped from your perfect hole,”_ Nureyev continued with a wanton sigh of his own. _“Oh, my perfect goddess, I would use my fingers and tongue to clean you out until you couldn’t take it anymore. Until you needed me all over again—”_

“Oh, fuck!” Juno sobbed, and he came, shouting into the quiet of his room as his hand moved frantically over his cock.

He came to the image of Nureyev eating him out, cleaning up after himself and making his hole sloppy with spit, and slick, and lube. The thought of Nureyev working his tongue in his used and dripping hole until he was begging for his cock all over again had him whimpering through the aftershocks of his orgasm.

Juno knew he would, knew himself well enough that the sensation of cum leaking out of his ass would be enough alone to have him bouncing back for more. Nureyev didn’t have to know he was that easy, however.

A short time later, Juno came back to himself and blinked up at the ceiling, idly running his fingers up and down through the mess on his stomach and chest while he recovered completely. Once he did, Juno excused himself to get cleaned up before putting his nightshirt back on and returning to find Nureyev lounging in a silky, purple camisole and matching shorts.

With a contented sigh, Juno put his comms back together and got under the covers, “joining” Nureyev in bed.

* * *

Nureyev was laying on his back, obviously deep in thought as he frowned up at the ceiling of whatever hotel room he was in. Juno laid on his side and played with his necklace, running his thumb over the ribbon in the pendant and watching Nureyev with some concern. In his experience, the thief was much more talkative after sex, and for a moment Nureyev actually looked sad.

“Hey, everything okay, babe?” Juno prompted after the quiet went on for a few minutes.

Nureyev looked at his comms, expression startled as if he had forgotten he was on a call. It was more likely that he hadn’t even realized that Juno had returned, so far away in his own head as he was. _“Yes, Juno, everything is fine. Apologies, my love, I was just thinking,”_ he said quickly, rolling onto his side to face his comms fully. _“I’ve been offered a job recently.”_

“Oh,” Juno started, and he realized he wasn’t entirely sure what that entailed for a thief. “A job, but not like your other… work?”

 _“Precisely. This would be a full-time gig, so to speak,”_ Nureyev confirmed. _“It would be with a team, so I would have security, stability, etcetera.”_

“That’s… cool, I guess?” Juno said, trying to puzzle out where the problem was. “You don’t look excited for it.”

Nureyev sighed heavily and said, _“I will unlikely be able to call you as often.”_

“Oh…” Juno said, biting the inside of his cheek. Their calls already felt few and far between, so what would ‘less often’ even look like?

 _“I need to take this job,”_ Nureyev said, pushing his glasses up to rub his face roughly. _“It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I can’t…keep doing this work alone, without purpose.”_

Juno took in a deep breath, but all he could say was, “Oh?”

 _“I feel like I’m burning out,”_ the thief finished, and now that Juno looked at him closely, he could see that Nureyev seemed exhausted, thinner in his face and strained.

Juno nodded and said, “That makes sense. How will this mess with our set-up?”

 _“Firstly, while I trust this team as professionals, I don’t trust them as people. I would prefer them not knowing about you,”_ he said quickly, sighing. _“And secondly, our job is, as the captain has put it, the Big One. Whatever that means. We will have to be careful with all outgoing comms calls, which means—”_

“You’ll only be able to call from burner comms?” Juno finished the thought for him. “Which means waiting to be grounded somewhere safe?”

Nureyev nodded jerkily. _“Precisely.”_

“That makes sense,” Juno said, and he hoped he didn’t sound as upset as he felt.

The opportunity was good for Nureyev, and it meant that the thief was safer, even if just a little bit. He would have back-up, a team, someone to look out for him when Juno couldn’t. Juno wasn’t selfish enough to tell Nureyev to forsake that just for his neediness.

 _“Are you okay, Juno?”_ Nureyev asked, his voice nervous, and Juno forced a smile.

“Yeah, Nureyev,” he lied. “We’ll make it work, I know we will.”

* * *

The stretches between their calls grew from a couple of weeks to a couple of months shortly after that conversation. At least when they talked, the conversations were long, but they hardly made up for the radio silence in between.

When one stretch reached three months, Benten finally broke his silence about the whole arrangement one evening. They were in their living room, and Juno had just gotten off a call with a potential client, and he was still playing with his ribbon pendant when he ended the call.

“You can’t keep doing this for him,” Benten snapped, straightening the coffee table that Juno had almost broken his leg against when he dove to answer his beeping comms.

“Doing what?” he played dumb, returning to cooking their dinner. 

“Waiting! Just sitting here, going straight to work and coming straight home, being miserable literally all of the time,” Benten said, sitting heavily at the dinner table to watch Juno cook.

Juno didn’t even entertain his brother with a glance. “This is how I’ve always been—”

“Yeah, well it’s worse now and I hate it!” Benten interrupted, and Juno was stunned enough by the emotion shaking his voice that he turned around to look. There were tears in his eyes, and it hit Juno all over again that he had been so busy in his own head, he hadn’t noticed Benten’s struggles.

“Ben…” he started, but didn’t know where to go with that so he set the pot he was stirring to simmer and sat down at the table with Benten.

“It’s just— it really sucks, when you finally get that call and you’re so happy because I know what’s coming,” Benten continued, his chin wobbling with his unshed tears. “I hate it, and I hate him more every single time. It can’t be worth it. I just can’t see anything making this worth it.”

Juno reached over and pulled Benten into a one-armed hug. “It’s worth it, Ben,” he said, and he was frustrated at how weak the words sounded in his own ears.

“How, Juno? Because you love him?” Benten asked sceptically. “Because he loves you?”

“Yeah,” Juno replied, and it sounded terribly weak as an answer. “Just… remember that the wait is just as long for him, Ben.”

“But, you’re the one doing the actual waiting, Juno,” Benten said and Juno opened his mouth to argue, but the words died in his throat.

He couldn’t argue that point, because it was true. All at once, just how unbalanced the situation was hit Juno like a rocket ship, and he shut his mouth with an audible click.

“And whatever, I get his reasons, you don’t need to tell me again,” Benten continued on, clearly expecting Juno to have interjected at that point. “But can you answer just one question for me?”

“Yeah, shoot,” Juno replied dazedly when Benten didn’t immediately ask.

“What if something happens to him?” he asked, and panic flashed through Juno, the same panic that flashed through him every single night he went to bed without a call and woke up every morning without even a text or a missed call.

“Ben, don’t—” he started, pulling away from his brother to stand again.

“No! You have to think about this!” Benten insisted, grabbing Juno’s wrist and yanking him back into the seat to look at him. “What if something happens and he never calls again; how would you find out? Or would you just be stuck waiting forever?”

Juno didn’t have an answer for him, and in the end, that was how he knew just how right Benten was. Would someone call him? It was unlikely; the whole reason their relationship was on hold for months at a time was that Nureyev didn’t trust the people he was working with. How long would be too long? Juno didn’t know, and Nureyev probably wouldn’t be able to answer with any degree of accuracy either.

When Juno sighed, Benten pulled him back in for a hug, tucking Juno under his chin. “I know you love him, and I know he loves you, and fine I’ll admit it, he seems pretty great,” Benten said begrudgingly and Juno rolled his eyes. “It worked a lot longer than I expected it would, but this is stuff you need to consider, you know?”

Juno had nothing to say to that, so instead, he grumbled, “I’m supposed to be the smart twin.”

“Get ready, because this is literally the only time you’ll actually hear this; you are the smart twin,” Benten said with a laugh. “You’re also the soft one.”

“‘M not soft,” Juno mumbled.

“Juno, you used to cry every time you won literally any game we played as kids because I pouted!” Benten argued through another laugh, and he squeezed Juno tight before getting up. “Think about it, okay? I really want my brother back.”

“I’ll talk to him when he calls,” Juno said as he stood, holding out his pinky when his brother looked at him sceptically. “I promise.”

“Okay, good,” Benten replied, hooking his pinky with Juno’s and pulling him into another hug.

And Juno meant it. Now that it was raised to his attention, he couldn’t ignore it any longer. This had to be addressed as soon as they could, but that meant he still had to wait. With it brought to his attention, though, came bitterness and while the fear and anxiety still accompanied him to bed and were among the first emotions he felt upon waking, there was also anger.

* * *

Juno jolted awake to his comms beeping and squinting at the clock on his bedside table he saw that it was almost dawn. Groggily, he reached over to the table to grab the earpiece and put it in.

“Juno Steel, Private Eye,” he croaked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

_“You’re back to investigating then, dear detective?”_

At Nureyev’s voice, Juno was wide awake and sitting up abruptly in bed. There was so much Juno wanted to say, to yell, to sigh, but the tension he had been feeling finally leaked out of him and he breathed, “You’re okay.”

It had been almost four weeks since his conversation with Benten, which meant it had been just as many months since he had heard from Nureyev. His relief almost knocked the wind right out of his lungs and he sagged back against his pillows.

 _“Of course I am, my love,”_ Nureyev replied with a laugh, one of his genuine but also fake ones. It was a real laugh in that he was actually amused, but fake because it was his persona’s laugh.

And at that, Juno remembered that he was angry.

“How the hell would I know that Nureyev?” he snapped, and immediately regretted his tone. 

That wasn’t how he wanted the conversation to start, with Nureyev on the defence from the outset. But Juno had been so upset and sick with worry. Then Nureyev blew him off with a laugh, and worse, did so in whatever persona he was affecting. The thief had called him in character.

Nureyev was quiet for a long moment, and when he spoke again, he sounded like himself.

 _“Can we be on video, love? I… I would like to see you,”_ he requested, and his voice sounded so small that Juno felt even more awful for taking that tone with him.

“Yeah,” he sighed and turned on his camera.

When Nureyev’s image appeared, Juno felt some of the new tension that had bunched his shoulders back up around his ears leak out of him. He was sitting at a table in what looked like a crowded bazaar under an intensely bright sun. Nureyev looked amazing, as always, in a wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses with big round frames. His hair looked incredibly long, much longer than the last time he had seen him, which just made it all hurt even more.

 _“You’re so gorgeous,”_ Nureyev breathed, as if Juno hadn’t just woken up and barely wiped the drool off of his face. His mouth turned down at the corners sadly as he added, _“I’ve missed you.”_

Juno snorted angrily with a roll of his eyes, which annoyed him since he knew it wasn’t productive to be that hostile. “Well, it's been four months,” he snapped, internally cringing at how much he was screwing the conversation up. “I’d feel pretty hurt if you didn’t miss me.”

Nureyev hesitated a moment, his mouth falling open before he pressed it into a flat line. It was the face he usually wore when he was trying to figure out exactly where he messed up and why Juno was upset. _“Is there something you wish to talk to me about?”_ he asked eventually.

Juno barely refrained from snapping and telling Nureyev off. He wanted to actually talk to Nureyev, not fight and go back to bed angry, but Juno was struggling to find the words to communicate things.

With a jolt, he realized that might actually be a good starting point.

“Yeah, there’s something I want to talk about, but I don’t know what to say,” he started, taking a deep breath and chewing on the inside of his cheek. “I’m not actually angry, just… I don’t know if— if how things are going right now are working. For the long-run.”

Nureyev sucked in a sharp breath before he let it out slowly, his nostrils flaring a bit before he shook his head. _“I see,”_ he eventually said, but his voice was shaking and Juno felt gutted.

“I-it was different, back when it was only a few days, or a couple weeks but…” Juno trailed off, biting his cheek and closing his eyes against the building tears. “Four months is _really long_ , Nureyev.”

When he opened his eyes again, he could see Nureyev nodding, and he looked so sad that Juno wanted to take it all back, to pretend the conversation never happened and lie and say he was perfectly happy with the arrangement as it was. What could Juno possibly hope to change with his discomfort? Nureyev still wasn’t retiring, and Juno wasn’t leaving his family. There was only one thing that could change, and Juno didn’t want that.

 _“It has been hellish, wanting to talk to you but not being able to,”_ Nureyev admitted quietly.

Juno laughed quietly and humourlessly, and said, “Now imagine being the one waiting.”

Nureyev went very still, and Juno was frustrated that he couldn’t see his eyes through the shades he wore. After a few moments, Nureyev weakly asked, _“Is that how you’ve been feeling, love?”_

“No! Yes… maybe?” Juno responded before groaning and covering his eyes. “Not at first, even after you took this full-time gig. But the last couple times… it feels like my life is on hold. Like I can’t move, or change something, or leave, or whatever because you might call in a minute.”

Juno paused for a second to collect his thoughts and to allow Nureyev a moment to possibly offer his own. But when Nureyev said nothing, he sighed.

“I’m going to work and then coming straight home, and avoiding doing anything that might make me miss your call,” he continued with a sad laugh. “Because how fucking annoying would that be if you went to all this trouble to get a burner, just for me to miss the call? And then what happens? I wait another two, three, four months?”

He took another breath and felt quite a bit of gratitude for Nureyev’s patience. He was on a roll with his thoughts and spilling his heart all over the floor, and an interruption at that point would have made him stumble.

“And the whole time, my guts are just… in knots, Nureyev,” Juno said, and he blinked rapidly as tears welled up in his eyes. “Every week that passes with nothing is another week of worry, and that kind of crap just builds and builds. And then I start to make my plans for what happens if you don’t call—”

Nureyev made a wounded sound at that. _“Juno—”_

“I don’t want your comfort right now, Nureyev. I want you to listen, please,” Juno interrupted, reaching up to wipe away a tear. “You can’t promise you’ll be safe and that, no matter what, we’ll be having our little secret comms calls for the rest of our lives. You can’t.”

Nureyev opened his mouth before he quickly closed it again and heaved a sigh through his nose. _“Go on,”_ he prompted eventually.

“Just, answer this,” Juno started, and asked, “If something happened to you, how would I find out?”

Nureyev started to say something before he cut himself off, his mouth open just slightly in shock as if he truly hadn’t considered that as an issue. Juno almost laughed, knowing full well that Nureyev hadn’t thought of it, and that didn’t even upset him. It was so Nureyev; he would have twenty contingency plans for a single job, but flew by the seat of his pants everywhere else, especially in his relationship with Juno.

“Because Benten and Rita would figure out how to tell you if something happened to me,” Juno said with a heavy sigh. “Even if they just waited until the next time you called my comms.”

Nureyev nodded almost woodenly, sucking in a shaky breath. _“I’m so sorry, my love. I hadn’t thought of how distressing this has been for you,”_ he said gently, and he finally removed his sunglasses to pinch the bridge of his nose. Juno could see that his eyelashes were wet with unshed tears. _“What are you proposing we do about this?”_

Juno released his breath in an explosive sigh, suddenly aware he had been holding it. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but the calm acceptance of his feelings wasn’t it.

That was a lie though, that he didn’t know what to expect; he had expected an argument, for Nureyev to say something condescending, about Juno knowing what he signed up for, and if that was a problem he should have said it earlier before Nureyev accepted the job offer.

But that voice in his head wasn’t Nureyev, and never had been. Even if Nureyev was the one person in the galaxy who could use any of that against Juno, he never would.

“I have no idea, babe,” he murmured, a bit lost. “Something’s gotta give, though, and I don’t want it to be… this.”

The thief nodded again and actually looked at Juno, his eyes sparkling in the sunlight around him. _“I understand. Let me figure out some things—”_

 _“Ransom, darling, we’re just about to head out— oh, I hadn’t realized you were in the middle of a call,”_ came a voice from beyond the camera’s range.

Nureyev jumped and looked almost wildly at whoever just spoke. _“Captain!”_ he said a bit breathlessly before clearing his throat. _“H-how long have you—”_

 _“Oh, not long at all, Pete. Just got here, in fact,”_ the woman said with a laugh as if she had told some sort of joke. Nureyev laughed with her genuinely, if a bit strained while he struggled between being Nureyev for Juno and… Ransom for the woman. _“Do you need some more time, darling?”_

Juno felt his heart drop.

Four months of nothing, all for fifteen minutes of arguing and an implied ultimatum. It summed Juno’s particular brand of luck up perfectly.

“You can go, _Ransom_ ,” Juno said quietly, reaching up to play with his pendant and quietly praying he could keep the tears back until after they hung up. “We’ll just pick this back up whenever you can call again.”

Nureyev glared briefly at him through the comms before he turned back to his captain. “ _How much longer would you be able to give me, Captain?”_ he asked and Juno felt his heart jump.

Again, he was shocked to his core. He had figured Nureyev would hang up with him to get back to work, to maintain an illusion of not having someone special to him, to keep up the image of a thief without a name, without connections to be exploited and held as collateral. The fact that he was actually planning to accept the offer for more time spoke volumes about how seriously Nureyev took Juno’s discomfort.

The woman laughed, and it sounded so warm and genuinely fond, it triggered a long-dead ache in Juno’s chest. _“Just be back at the car by sundown, Pete,”_ she said, her voice thick with amusement. _“Take as much time as you need until then.”_

Nureyev heaved a sigh of relief at the same moment Juno did. _“Thank you, Captain,”_ he said breathlessly.

 _“No need to thank me, darling,”_ she replied, her voice getting further away, before adding, _“Tell your lady friend ‘hello’ for me.”_

They sat in silence for a bit, Juno waiting for Nureyev to speak again to signal that she was for sure out of earshot.

 _“Sorry about that, Juno,”_ he finally said, looking back at him through the comms.

“She seems… nice?” Juno said, and Nureyev’s bark of laughter confused him a bit.

 _“The Captain is hardly nice, my dear Juno. But she’s respectable, a legend in her own right, and she does try to make things feel…”_ Nureyev trailed off and shook his head. _“Regardless, we have more time to talk, so we can either return to—”_

Juno shook his head. “I think we’ve said everything we had to,” he said, laughing a bit. “I just want to talk now. Catch up, y’know?”

Nureyev smiled, flashing his mismatched fangs and nodded a bit. _“I would like that very much as well, my love.”_

* * *

Juno woke up early in the morning to prepare for the stupid competition with the other restaurants. As was his usual morning routine, he checked his comms for missed calls before he even got out of bed. Seeing none, he got up and started getting ready.

He arrived at the cafe and worked alone for a couple of hours, waiting for Rita to arrive so he could head out and get things over with the other owners. When she noisily arrived, he bickered with her while she made the coffees for him to take, and he left with a parting order to collect Mick’s tab, just to see her splutter angrily at the audacity of that request.

It was their routine, and for the first time in a long while, Juno didn’t feel like he was just going through the motions. The conversation with Nureyev two weeks prior, while changing nothing, had helped to some extent and he was feeling a bit hopeful.

When he returned to the cafe, Juno could tell something was different. Sensing an extra presence in the space that he hadn’t felt in months, he immediately looked around until gaze landed on the tall man sitting in the corner and recognition dawned on him.

The man was older, with long hair that was more salt than pepper and pulled into a ponytail. His face was serious, almost severe, with dark onyx eyes that stared unflinchingly back at people.

Juno knew him from only a brief meeting well over a year ago, when he’d needed the weapons and weird chip destroyed.

“Hey, Big Guy,” Juno greeted as he walked over and sat down across from him. “Didn’t think I’d see you again.”

“You were correct in that assumption, Juno. You would not have seen me again without a change in circumstances,” the Big Guy replied bluntly. “The tea here is very good, as are the croissants.”

“Thanks…? I make all the food,” Juno explained quietly, slightly bewildered. “What ‘circumstances’? Did you run into problems dealing with the stuff?”

“Not at all. Our past dealings are completely unrelated to my current visit,” he explained, yet offered nothing further.

Juno raised his eyebrow. “So… why are you here?”

“To offer you a job, on behalf of my employer,” the man said, pulling two envelopes out of the inside pocket of his brown jacket, handing both to Juno. “The letters will contain all of the information you will need, as well as the comms coordinates to call with your answer.”

Juno sputtered as he accepted the envelopes. “I-I didn’t apply for a job, though,” Juno said, looking up at the man when he stood up. “This has to be a mistake.”

“There is no mistake. We require two more members for our team, and you and your associate, Rita, came highly recommended,” the man replied firmly. “Read the letters, reach a decision, and settle what you must.”

With that, the man left the cafe and disappeared out of view.

Juno looked down at the envelopes and stared at the fancy, looping handwriting addressing one to Rita, and the other to him. His stomach dropped seeing only two envelopes. He couldn’t imagine that any job that the Big Guy would bring him would be in Hyperion City, so what about Benten?

Eventually, Juno joined Rita behind the counter. She looked like she was about to explode with her questions, and Juno gave her a long-suffering sigh, tucking the letters away in his pocket. “I need to look into this first,” he said, and Rita pouted but did her best to drop it.

It wasn’t until later that evening when he was alone in his bedroom that he finally opened his letter.

He very nearly dropped it when he pulled it out. It was the same handwriting he saw every day in the letter he received over a year ago. He felt tears prickle his eyes as he scanned the lines, looking for the catch.

It lacked the flowery, romantic tones of his other note, and mostly explained the positions that were available in Buddy Aurinko’s crew, and that she liked what she saw when she researched them.

> _The important thing, my love, is that the Captain does not believe in separating twins. As far as she is concerned, you and Benzaiten would be a package deal, and should you accept, your brother also has a place here._
> 
> _I truly hope you accept this offer, Juno. It is entirely selfish, I know, and is likely forgetting half a dozen other reasons you would stay on Mars._
> 
> _I love you._

The letter was, once again, signed with a kiss.

There was another letter, which explained the actual details of the job and crew, and signed by Buddy Aurinko herself with her comms coordinates.

Space pirates, that’s what this was, essentially. Nureyev had been a space pirate all these months, and he’d managed to secure a job offer for Juno and Rita, and by extension, Benten. It scared Juno just how much he wanted it, but his entire career up until that point was directly in opposition to what he was being offered.

 _‘It was okay when Nureyev was doing it…’_ Juno thought, but that was different, wasn’t it?

His comms were in his hand before he could think about it, the coordinates punched in and the line already connecting.

_“Buddy Aurinko speaking, to whom may I bill this pleasure?”_

“This is Juno Steel, you offered me a job this morning,” Juno said as he looked at the letter again, and he flinched at his caustic tone. “Kinda bold, giving this sort of information to a private investigator, don’t you think?”

 _“I hardly think so,”_ Buddy laughed. _“This doesn’t quite sound like a ‘yes, thank you for the opportunity, I’ll start right away’ call, however.”_

“It’s not a ‘no’ either,” Juno pointed out flatly.

 _“I’ve noticed that as well,”_ Buddy said, and he could hear the smile in her voice.

“Is Ransom there?” he asked after a few moments of silence between them, and Buddy chuckled.

_“Would you want him here for this conversation, Juno? I can collect him, if you would like.”_

Juno paused, considering it for a moment. He knew if he were to just hear him, he would trip over himself saying ‘yes’, without even speaking to Benten or Rita. “No,” he finally said. “I just want to make sure that it’s just you and me talking.”

_“Perfect, now what did you want to talk about?”_

“What sort of marks would we be hitting?” Juno asked, and Buddy chuckled.

_“Why should that matter, darling? Isn’t all crime created equally?”_

“Stealing a hundred creds from someone from Old Town is a lot different than stealing a hundred creds from, say, the Kanagawas,” Juno replied flatly, and Buddy made a pleased sound.

 _“Now imagine those hundred creds you are hypothetically stealing from the Kanagawas were stolen from the person in Old Town, and they’ve collected interest on it,”_ Buddy said with a note of excitement. _“We are simply liberating stolen goods.”_

“For profit,” Juno said accusingly.

 _“Hardly huge profits,”_ she said breezily. _“There’s very little money in what my family does, but we get by. Mostly from selling the other items we liberate. Understand I can’t tell you everything about the job I’m hiring for, but it’s a commitment of at least a year. Staying beyond that is completely up to you.”_

“I still have to talk to Rita and Benten,” Juno said after a few moments, mulling things over.

 _“Of course, darling. Please, also consider your own reasons for signing on, if you should choose to do so,”_ Buddy said. _“It would be incredibly awkward if things didn’t work between you and Ransom and then you had no reason to want to finish out your contract.”_

That was a reasonable concern, even if it filled him with fear. “I’ll think about it,” Juno said grumpily. “I’ll be in touch.”

_“Of course! Just a reminder, due to the time-sensitive nature of this job, I can only leave this position open to you for a month, as I have stated in the letter—”_

“The letter didn’t say anything about a time limit!”

 _“—At which point I will be forced to broaden my search for talent. Ransom’s endorsement only goes so far,”_ Buddy finished. _“So, talk to your brother and coworker. I will only accept one more call to these comms coordinates, so use it wisely.”_

The line disconnected and Juno just stared at the letters in front of him, chewing the inside of his cheek. Picking up his comms again, he dialed another set of coordinates.

_“Hiii, Boss—”_

“Rita, you have to come over right now,” Juno interrupted. “I know it’s late, but please. I need to talk to you and Ben about something.”

* * *

“So… less space pirates and more space Robin Hood,” Benten said slowly.

“But still mostly pirates,” Rita muttered, vibrating with excitement. “Boss, did’ja see I’d be paid more than you?”

Juno had shown them both the official letters from Buddy, and they were just as sceptical as he had been upon reading them. After detailing the conversation he had with Buddy, Rita seemed more into the idea.

“Since when are you applying for space piracy, Juno?” Benten asked with narrowed eyes.

“I’m not,” he replied stiffly.

“Then why did you get this offer?” Benten pressed and Juno bit the inside of his cheek.

He hadn’t mentioned Nureyev’s involvement, not wishing to influence their decisions based on what he wanted. He still wasn’t quite sure what his decision truly was until he knew theirs. He only wanted it if they wanted it as well, in the end.

“That doesn’t matter,” Juno replied after a few moments. “I want to know if you’re interested in this. We have a month to settle everything here, so you have to decide—”

“Juno, I need all of the variables before I make any decisions,” Benten snapped and like a traitor, Rita nodded enthusiastically. The worst part was that Juno knew they were right. He would have flat-out said “no” if either of them brought him a mystery job offer from a new crime family, so the fact that they were still humouring the conversation at all was pushing his luck.

“I didn’t want to influence your decision,” Juno finally said, pulling Nureyev’s letter out of his pocket and unfolded it before putting it down on the table. Rita’s eyes zoomed in on the kiss at the bottom and squealed.

“Aw, Mista Steel! You shoulda led with this!” she wailed, jumping down from her chair and bouncing around the table to hug him tightly. “This is so romantic! It’s like that one stream—”

“He’s on this crew,” Benten said, ignoring Rita completely as she rambled on, but his eyes were still on the letter.

“Yeah,” Juno said, with a grunt as Rita’s hug tightened. “I didn’t— your decisions matter, so just, ignore what this might mean for me—”

“No can do, Boss,” Rita interrupted, squeezing him harder. “This was an important piece of information.”

“Why did he get you this job, Juno?” Benten asked pointedly, but he was still looking at the letter. “More, why is the Captain making an exception for me?”

“Why does that matter?” Juno asked, uncomfortable under his brother’s scrutiny.

“It matters because this is starting to sound like the culmination of a Super Steel Sacrifice you expressly promised not to make anymore,” Benten said, his voice stern.

“In my defense,” Juno started, “I made that promise after—”

“Juno—!”

“Mista Steel—!”

“Did he ask you, at any point, to go with him?” Benten asked.

“Yes, but—” Juno said, and Rita gasped.

“And you said ‘no’?” Benten continued.

“Yeah, but—”

“No, I want yes or no answers, nothing else, Juno,” Benten snapped angrily. “If he loves you, and you love him, and he asked you to go with him, why are you still here?”

“Because I couldn’t leave you! Especially for a guy I knew for, what, a month?” Juno said with a bit of a scoff. “It felt like I would lose something no matter what choice I made, so I made the one that I figured would hurt less.”

“So you chose being miserable,” Benten said, laughing bitterly. “Wow, Juno, I’m so honoured you would choose misery for me.”

“Mista Benzaiten—” Rita started.

“I would have been miserable no matter what,” Juno cut in. “I didn’t stay for you, or even because of you. Maybe I framed it that way in my head for a while, I don’t know, but I stayed because I was afraid and I needed you.”

Juno and Benten stared at each other, anger and hurt crackling between them while Rita still had her arms wrapped around him. 

“That makes sense, Mista Steel,” Rita finally said, and the twins let out the breath they were both holding. “I don’t like it, but I get it.”

“What do you want, Juno,” Benten finally asked. “Explain in full words what this means and what you want.”

“I want to be with him, and I want you to come with me,” Juno answered instantly, knowing waffling about with words would end in a screaming match between them. “But only if you want to go, too. Both of you.”

“Will you and Mista Glass be able to make the love work otha’wise?” Rita asked softly.

“I… don’t know,” Juno replied.

“And this whole… thing, you’re okay with it? The whole, criminal thing?” Rita pushed further. “’Cos I mean, it seems fun, but life ain’t like the streams, I know that, and I know how much you wanna do good work. I just wanna know you ain’t just doin’ this for a guy, y’know?”

Juno sighed and stared up at the ceiling. He had been thinking about that very question since he spoke to Buddy. If what she was saying was true, then they would be doing work that he as a private investigator had wished he had been doing; actually attacking a problem at its source and dealing with it, at least in some capacity. The fact that he could do it with Nureyev was a bonus, if anything.

“I’m not just considering this for Rex,” Juno confirmed, and at Benten’s sceptical look, he said, “Yes, he’s a factor, and this is only an option because he made it happen, but I’m not just— I’m not so much of an idiot to uproot my whole life just for him.”

Rita finally pulled back and met Juno’s gaze before looking at Benten. “Well then, Mista Steel, I gotta get downloadn’ all my streams, huh?” she said with a grin when she looked back at Juno, and he let out a heavy sigh, some of the tension that had been building in his shoulders releasing.

When he looked at Benten, his brother was watching him with narrowed eyes, and Juno found himself hopeful. With Rita on board, it just left Benten to decide their future. 

“This is the only fix to the situation you idiots have come up with in a year and a half?” Benten asked, and Juno’s heart dropped.

“Yeah,” Juno replied, keeping his voice as strong as he could.

“So if I say ‘no’,” Benten continued, picking Buddy’s letter back up and looking it over, before asking, “We all would stay in Hyperion City and Rex would have to figure something else out?”

Juno’s heart dropped so suddenly, he felt like he was about to puke. Like an idiot, he had thought that he would finally be getting something he wanted. He had figured, after explaining and talking, Benten would have said ‘yes’ without even considering the alternative. Juno wasn’t sure why he had assumed such a thing, and realized how utterly selfish such a train of thought had been. How could he have been so self-centered, even for just a few hours?

Biting his cheek hard enough to make it bleed, he nodded and said, “Yeah.” His voice was rough, too much so to go unnoticed, and Benten’s eyes shot back up to look at him.

“Oh shit, Juno, I was just teasing!” Benten said, his face twisting as he grabbed Juno into an awkward, one-armed hug. “I wouldn’t— shit, I wouldn’t do that to you.”

With a sigh of relief, Juno returned the embrace. “So, that’s a yes?” he clarified, if only to hear Benten actually say it.

“Yeah, Juno,” Benten replied, and for the first time throughout the entire conversation, he let his enthusiasm bleed through. “I can deal with your annoying boyfriend, who I still hate by the way, if it means I get to be a space pirate.”

Rita squealed and wrapped her arms around both of them tightly. “Oh, this is so excitn’! What streams should I watch to prepare?!”

Juno sighed as his brother and Rita broke away and started bickering about streams and tipped his head back to blink back the happy tears that welled up. Briefly, he thought about Hyperion City, and his cafe, and how much he had gone through to carve out a spot for himself on Mars. With a start, Juno realized he only felt excitement about making something for himself out amongst the stars with Nureyev and the crew he was a part of. With a grin to himself, he began his planning.

* * *

It took almost the entire month for them to get everything settled.

Juno started with transferring what cases he had taken to other private eyes, citing a family emergency off-planet. He turned in his credentials as well, stating the emergency would keep him away indefinitely. His next order of business was to take care of the cafe.

It was a fairly simple thing for him to do. Juno hired a couple bakers as well as a couple baristas, and a manager. Training went well, as the newer hires seemed to be properly qualified for the work, as opposed to him and Rita who largely learned on the job. The manager especially was a good decision, as she immediately began planning changes to the way things ran— “No more random hours of operation” was the biggest thing she changed. 

Then Juno called Mick for a meeting.

Mick came into the cafe with a big grin, as always, and hauled Juno up into a big hug. “Hey, JayJay!” he gushed, as if he hadn’t seen Juno two days ago and Juno wasn’t grumbling at him to let him go. “How’s it going?”

Juno finally managed to push Mick away and gestured at a nearby table with a smile of his own. “Things are good, really good, actually,” he admitted, shrugging at Mick’s raised eyebrows as they sat. “I have some news, though.”

The way Mick’s goofy face turned so serious in an instant was almost funny enough for Juno to laugh if his stomach wasn’t already doing somersaults. “Yeah, Jay, sure. What’s up?”

“Rita and I were offered a job off-planet, and we’re planning to accept it,” Juno started slowly. “Benten will be coming with us.”

“Whoa, that’s— wow, JayJay! That’s great!” Mick said excitedly, even if there was a sad tilt to his smile. “What about the cafe? Are you selling it?”

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about,” Juno replied, taking a deep breath. “I was hoping to pass ownership of the cafe to you.”

“Seriously?!” Mick said incredulously, and though he seemed ready to say ‘yes’, he was already hunching his shoulders with some embarrassment. “I dunno, Jay. I mean, you know my track-record with jobs, and how much I can screw things up, and—”

“Yeah, Mick, I do know all of that but…” Juno trailed off, looking around the cafe as he searched for the right words. “You’re big, and dumb, but so is your heart, and it’s always in the right place, so that’s— you’re the only person I would want taking care of it.”

“I don’t know anything about running a business, Jay,” Mick said a bit weakly, his eyes big and glassy.

“I’ve hired some people already to take care of pretty much everything, so you’re not in it alone,” Juno replied, his voice going a bit hoarse as he got choked up himself. “And I’ll be checking in here and there. You’ve got this.”

Mick’s tears overflowed at that and he hauled Juno into a painfully tight hug. “I won’t let you down, Jay-man!” he said loudly, his voice thick with his tears.

“Yeah, Mick, I know,” Juno gasped out, patting Mick’s back as the sobbed into his shoulder happily. Then, when Mick finally pulled back, Juno said, “You’ve kept me on track since my accident. You can handle a restaurant.”

“You’re too hard on yourself, Juno. It wasn’t a chore ‘keeping you on track’, and anyone who treated it like it was isn’t around anymore, and that just proves my point,” Mick said pointedly and Juno rolled his eyes. Then Mick asked, “Does this job have anything to do with that Rex guy?”

Juno couldn’t have helped the dopey grin that spread across his face if he had wanted to. “Maybe,” he teased and laughed when Mick shouted excitedly again and called Rita over to confirm.

Rita was finished with her preparation the quickest, since most of it was just a whole lot of downloading all of her favourite streams, and then stocking up on those disgusting snacks she was so fond of. Juno made a mental note at one point to also stock up on hand wipes.

It was actually Benten’s preparation that took the longest.

He had to settle things with the dance studio. The other dancers who rented the space weren’t keen on handling the payments with one less person, so they had demanded he find someone before he left. Benten did try very hard to find a replacement, not wanting to completely screw over the people he had been working with for years. When it entered week-three with no success, however, Benten reassured Juno that he would just cut his losses and leave if no one applied in the next week.

“I’m a space pirate now,” he had said over dinner, smiling at Juno’s bark of laughter. “What are they gonna do if I ditch?”

Juno never did learn if Benten had sorted things out properly. In the end, Benten had told Juno to give “that Aurinko lady” a call and he pretty much stopped caring.

They were all sitting in the twins’ living room when Juno punched in the comms coordinates from the letter. It beeped a few times and then a woman answered, fiery red hair covering half of her face.

 _“Ah, hello, darlings! I was hoping we would hear from you again soon,”_ she said brightly, smiling at them before looking slyly somewhere off-camera. _“Ransom has been absolutely crawling up the walls.”_

“Yeah, we wanted to figure our stuff out before calling,” Juno said a bit breathlessly, his heart jumping at the mention of Nureyev.

Buddy’s visible eye looked at him, her focus intense before she smiled winningly. _“I’m truly excited to have you aboard my ship, should this actually be a call to accept—”_

“Yes, Mizz Captain Aurinko, ma’am! We accept!” Rita finally burst out, her voice shrill. She had been vibrating more and more steadily since the moment Buddy appeared.

 _“Excellent, darlings!”_ Buddy said with a deep laugh. _“When should we plan for your retrieval?”_

“How soon could you pick us up?” Juno asked, his shoulders tense.

With a thoughtful hum, Buddy fiddled with something out of view. _“A week,”_ she finally said, looking back at them. _“Does that work for you?”_

Rita shrieked excitedly as Benten said a quiet, “Sounds good to me.” Juno tried not to pout about having to wait even longer—he had already packed his bags—and nodded instead.

 _“Perfect,”_ she said brightly with a clap of her hands. _“We will see you in a week, then. I will have the details of your retrieval sent to your comms in a few days.”_

The comms beeped as she hung up abruptly, and the three of them sat in the quiet of the apartment for a few minutes, absorbing everything.

“Wow,” Benten said slowly. “It’s actually happening.”

Dread sunk into Juno’s gut, and he nervously asked, “Having second thoughts, Ben?”

“Nope!” Benten said excitedly, grinning at Juno. “Just, it’s actually, truly happening. I’m a space pirate now!”

“I can’t believe we hafta wait a whole ‘notha week!” Rita wailed, throwing herself dramatically against Juno, and he was definitely inclined to agree.

* * *

Juno sat in the driver’s seat of a rental car, squirming nervously while they waited for their pick-up. Benten was in the passenger seat, fiddling with his comms while Rita was in the back seat, surrounded by the luggage, talking excitedly.

Huffing impatiently, Juno looked down and fidgeted with the hem of the dress he was wearing.

“Juno, leave your outfit alone,” Benten scolded, and Juno bit the inside of his cheek and dropped it.

“Do you think it’s too much?” he asked, and tried to sound flippant about it, but missed the mark by several feet.

Benten looked over at him with a flat look. “You’re wearing an oversized, see-through shirt with a belt, Juno,” he said in a voice as flat as his expression. “You’re far from overdressed.”

Juno felt his face heat up at the call-out, and looked down at himself. He was wearing a billowy, sheer black shirt that hung to mid-thigh on him. It had been Diamond’s, and Juno hadn’t realized he still had it until he was packing to leave. Paired with a nice belt and a good pair of boots, it made a cute dress, and one he could play with the length of using the belt.

Of course, for this particular moment, he was showing off as much of his legs as he reasonably could while keeping his ass covered, and the neckline gaped open to show off his pink bralette underneath.

Shifting his feet a bit, he looked down at his big leather boots and grumbled, “That’s not what I asked, Ben.”

“I gave you my opinion yesterday, Juno,” Benten replied with an exasperated sigh. “I think you should’ve done more. Really show Ransom what he’s been missing for a year and a half.”

“I think you look perfect, Mista Steel!” Rita chimed in, earning a smile from Juno. “This looks like you, which I think Mista Ransom will enjoy way more!”

Benten rolled his eyes and grumbled, “I still think you should’ve gone bigger.”

They were sitting out in the desert at the set of coordinates Buddy had sent them the night before, and had been for over an hour. Juno eyed the gas tank, as they were only protected from radiation so long as the vehicle was running. The wait had been excruciating, and Juno thumped his head against the window with a petulant huff.

Juno must have dozed a bit, because he was startled awake by a terribly loud noise. It was almost as if the sky tore open above them, and a bright light spilled over the sand that surrounded them. Juno and Benten leaned as far forward as they could to watch the ship descend through the windshield, and Rita scrambled into the front seat between them.

The ship landed at the base of the dune they were on, and Juno was already fighting to get his door open. It took him a few tries and a lot of profanity to realize the issue was that it was still locked. Once he was out of the car, he began hauling their bags out of the backseat and glancing at the ship constantly.

He was excited and terrified all at once, his palms sweating and his stomach roiling. Juno felt ready to cry and puke all at once, but he had worked far too hard on his make-up to do either, so he took a deep breath and helped Rita with her massive bag.

Once the three of them and their luggage were out of the car, Rita messed with her comms a bit and then the car turned around on its own and headed back in the direction of Hyperion City.

“Huh, neat trick,” Benten commented, which had Rita absolutely beside herself with glee while she explained what she did. Juno briefly heard Benten say “Rita, I’m better with tech than Juno, but not that much better. Speak Solar,” but he was focused on dragging his bags across the sand toward the ship and staring up the walkway that just finished lowering.

The light that poured out was blinding at first, and Juno hissed as a spike of pain lanced through the center of his forehead. The light dimmed and Juno blinked rapidly against the spots that had filled his vision, and when he looked back up he saw a small group of people waiting for them.

But there might as well have been no one else there, and for all Juno was concerned, there wasn’t another soul left in the whole galaxy as his gaze landed on one tall figure off to the side.

Nureyev stood there, in the flesh and so close that Juno would swear until the end of time that he could already smell him. He was far more gorgeous than Juno remembered, than he appeared in their video calls. With a jolt, Juno realized all over again that it was because Nureyev was real. 

Nureyev was a handful of feet away from him, hand on his hip and dark eyes flashing behind his glasses, and he was real. His hair was incredibly long, it seemed, hanging well past his shoulders, and Juno wanted to tangle his fingers in it, and since he was real, Juno could, if he could just get his feet moving again.

A year and a half had passed since he had last seen Nureyev, and he looked him over to note any other changes. Other than his longer hair, he was largely unchanged except that he seemed to have filled out a bit, his features still sharp but less gaunt. The scars from the Piranha’s knife had lost their pink colour, and had become pale lines across his chest, throat, jaw, and cheek. They looked… very attractive, and when Nureyev’s knowing smirk flashed his fangs—one set natural, and the other a metal similar to rose gold—Juno felt something hot pool in his gut.

“Juno, dear…” Nureyev breathed before his smirk became a grin. “A picture would last longer.”

**fin**   
Sequel TBA

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow!!! This shit is _done_!!!
> 
> Thank y'all for sticking with me this whole time, and I'm really glad y'all loved it as much as you did. This has been a bit of a Thing for me since August.
> 
>  **PSA!!!!!!** This is my obligatory "Condoms Aren't Just For Preventing Pregnancy" talk after a fic full of what would be _incredibly irresponsible sex_ in real life. Condoms and other contraceptives/protective barriors are incredibly important for avoiding STIs, and should be used often (and properly!!!), even during sex where pregnancy is not a risk, and even while using toys!!!

**Author's Note:**

> So the sequel for this fic has been cancelled since I started writing my original fiction and [started my Patreon for _Felix Serrano and the Adventures of the Fortune's Favour_](https://fortunesfavour.carrd.co). I thank you for your understanding and I hope you have enjoyed what I've written so far!


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